By RAY QUIROGA
publisher@sbnewspaper.com
For her selfless sacrifice, leadership and all that she does for the San Benito Food Pantry (SBFP) and the Resaca City, Forest Walker, SBFP President, has been named as the 2023 San Benito News Citizen of the Year.
On any given Thursday, motorists and passersby who frequent the heart of the Resaca City in the vicinity of the community’s U.S. Post Office building and City Hall, bear witness to the mass of humanity and vehicular traffic leading from the relatively discrete edifice on the corner of W. Adele.
In a world growing ever so cynical, the building — and more specially, the people and the goings-on inside it — stands as a testament to the many things that are right about society and San Benito.
Selfishness, egos and greed are left at the door here as a staff of volunteers help feed on average of 5,000 of their fellow community members per month through their effort and the efforts of those who contribute to the San Benito Food Pantry.
As it’s been for the past three years when the San Benito school district offered to lease the building to the SBFP for $1 per year, the 4,700 square foot maze of repurposed office space houses 14 freezers restocked weekly and food by the thousands of pounds.
At the helm of the non-profit operation is Walker, a San Benito resident with an unlikely path to the Valley, volunteerism and the pantry. Seemingly unstoppable and with energy and charisma to spare, the NEWS caught up with Walker on an early Friday morning, when pantry activities were assumed to have been at a low for the week, but it was evident from the start, that Walker’s slower morning are what others may consider busy midweek afternoons.
Signing documents, reviewing inventory, rallying staff for that anticipated flow of clients later that morning, and even taking time for an impromptu photo opportunity with members of the San Benito Elks Lodge who made a monetary donation to the pantry that particular morning, were all part of Walker’s early morning unscheduled itinerary.
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