Susan Davis

The St. Helena Community Food Pantry

St. Helena, CA

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Susan started volunteering at the St Helena Community Food Pantry about 8 years ago, performing a variety of tasks that make a food pantry function: picking up at Sunshine and Safeway, shopping at discount stores, bagging groceries, answering phone messages, meeting supply trucks from the Napa Food Bank, taking on the job of ordering , and serving on the Pantry board. It was the knowledge and appreciation of all the volunteer work it takes to run a successful food pantry that helped when she decided to accept the primary leadership position in her “little retirement gig” just before the beginning of the pandemic, which created an enormous uptick in demand. “Nobody succeeds in this alone. Forty volunteers a week, a supportive community, and a lot of general goodwill make it happen.”

Before working at the Pantry, Susan taught languages at St. Helena High School for 30 years. A number of her former students came to her rescue when more help was suddenly needed, allowing her to appreciate how “Really, more homework?” had transformed into “How can we help?” A new generation of folks wanting to give back to a generous community inspired her on more difficult days.

That work, along with participating with her husband, Richard Seiferheld, on Land Trust Napa Valley property monitoring, helped Susan get through the worst of the pandemic. “Well, I was never bored.”

“My parents taught me to be grateful for all my good luck. And, besides, anyone who volunteers knows that when you help out, you get far more than you give.”