Silly socks and volunteering: Ricky's Hunger Action Month story
September is Hunger Action Month - an opportunity for us to end hunger when we all work together. Below, read about how Ricky is helping end hunger.
Ricky is a silly sock kind of guy. Looney Tunes, Charlie Brown, Flintstones, Jetsons, Snoopy. If it’s a cartoon, he’s probably got silly socks of it.
“I have a different silly sock for each day of the week,” he says. “I try to get my niece silly socks too, because she loves them just like me.”
Silly socks are a good representation of Ricky’s personality – he’s bubbly, open and wears his heart on his sleeve (or his socks). In fact, if you’re visiting the Food Finders Food Bank’s Fresh Market in Lafayette, Indiana on a Saturday, there’s a good chance you’d get a glimpse of one of Ricky’s silly socks. He’s been volunteering with the food bank for the better part of 20 years.
“I just try to be the best helping hands I can,” he said. “I’m helping stock shelves, or at the front counter, or training new volunteers.”
Ricky has a unique perspective on volunteering at Food Finders, a member of the Feeding America network – his family used to visit pantries when he was growing up.
“Volunteering now is my way of paying it back,” he said. “I grew up with a single mom who fought and survived domestic violence. We visited food pantries, stayed in shelters, we needed it.”
“As a kid (visiting the pantry) meant a lot to me and my brother because we just didn't have a lot of food. It was our dinner so when we came home, we saw the fridge filled. We knew that we would be happy for another week.”
After graduating high school, Ricky was accepted into Purdue University’s electrical engineering program. He spent his first year at school homeless – and that’s when he started volunteering.
Twenty years later, he’s working full-time in the construction business and hasn’t stopped volunteering. And while Ricky loves supporting neighbors with food, he’s learned over the last two decades that food is just the beginning of what pantries do.
“I needed the pantries growing up. It’s what made my mom feel like we were safe, and now I volunteer to help make sure other people feel the same exact way,” he said. “I knew one day I’d give back and so I don’t plan on stopping any time soon.”