“I cannot do all the good the world needs, but the world needs all the good I can do,” is a quote Allen Triebel, the director of the Gilmer Community Food Pantry, lives by. He’s retiring, once again, and is looking for new leadership with the same sentiment.
Triebel will officially be stepping down this November, after serving as the food pantry’s director since 2023. Before passing duties on to Amber Kirkpatrick in 2022, who had to step down after a year, he served as director for three years.
After retiring as an insurance claims adjuster and investigator, Triebel moved to Ellijay in 2005. He has since dedicated 14 years of service to the food pantry.
The nonprofit has been feeding people since 2001 and is made up entirely of volunteers. Last year, they served nearly 5,000 families and gave out 645,844 pounds of food, according to Triebel.
The food pantry is open every Wednesday, from 9 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., to serve community members in need of groceries. Through its Sack Pack program, volunteers pack food for nearly 400 low-income students each week, to make sure they eat through the weekend. Its pet pantry also provides dog and cat food to pet owners.
As director, Triebel’s proud of his resourcefulness, establishing the pet pantry, creating a little pantry at the health department so people that can’t make it to the food pantry have access to canned goods and making sure the Sack Pack program continued.
He hopes the next director is someone with a calling to help the community and is recently retired with free time, but still young enough to contribute to the success of the pantry for years to come.
“You have to want to do it, and you have to like to talk,” he said. “You have to like people and have to understand we have all types of people here … We have young [volunteers], we have old, and they all work together because they’re doing what they want to do.”
The time commitment for this role is about 25 to 30 hours a week, he noted. The director’s main duties include problem-solving, filling out paperwork, fundraising, managing government regulations, purchasing food, being on call in case a crisis arises and attending meetings in Chattanooga where the regional food bank is.
“If we had more volunteers that wanted to take on responsibilities, an organized director could delegate some of those things,” he said.
The pantry needs younger leadership that can be tech savvy and better understand computers to make weekly tasks easier, Triebel added. Turning 78 this year, he said, “I enjoy this, but I’m too old for this.”
As no one has ever gotten paid at the food pantry, the director role is a volunteer position. An applicant needs to be someone wanting to do the job because they have a reason beyond monetary value, he stated.
“I can ask for money because I know I’m not getting paid anything,” Triebel explained. “If I have to collect [donations] for my income, I’ll be out hustling to get money to pay me, and that’s not the way it should be.”
Anyone interested in becoming director can apply by visiting the pantry, located at 5273 Highway 52 East in Ellijay. They can speak with Triebel on Tuesdays from 8 to 11 a.m. or Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The eight-member board will have a chance to interview applicants and make the final decision.
Applicants are suggested to volunteer at the food pantry for a couple days, to get a feel for how it operates. No prior knowledge is required. Triebel will be able to adequately train his replacement before officially retiring.