The retail environment can be stressful, hectic and often times draining. Many people would choose to clock out and head home, not looking back until their next shift.
For five employees of the Cerritos Target, however, they have chosen to clock out and look toward helping others, choosing to clock in to their community and make a difference.
Jordan Berez, Montana Sepp, Susy Reyes, Kaitlyn Mcloughlin and Juan Galvez chose to devote their time to the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank at Cerritos College on Feb. 19.
These five spent the duration of the two-hour event distributing food to those in need as well as getting to know students and local residents of both the college as well as Norwalk and Cerritos.
Sepp states, “I’m actually from out of town, and I’m relatively new to the area so it’s really great to get to know the community, and bond with other coworkers for a great cause.”
Each volunteer had a reason motivating them to donate their time, such as Berez who states, “anytime there’s an event that lets me get out there and socialize and help out others, I’m down to do it.”
Mcloughlin says, “The best part about it is that everyone is so appreciative. In retail people really just rush in and rush out, ask for help then brush you off, but here you can see everyone smiling, you can see that gratitude, it’s really wholesome.”
One volunteer even showed up to help out despite being on crutches.
Galvez says he was motivated to do so “out of sheer commitment, it feels good to help out and I don’t want to let a little injury stop my from doing that and making someone’s life easier.”
Despite each volunteer having a different reason for being there, the group shared a common cause. Sepp described it as “a group goal if you will, we really want to inspire others. My big goal, and everyone’s big goal for the year is to get as many people to as many events as possible.”
Sepp went on to say, “these events are wonderful because coming from retail where we work as a team, those skills we have let us make the best impact possible, so that when we come out here we can work as a team and as one unit as well.”
The volunteers also spoke on the change of being out in the open air as opposed to inside a store, as Reyes says, “the ambience is just awesome, we can just show up and start helping, it’s not as fast paced, and the reward comes by way of people’s smiles.”
The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank does not require any prior training in order for one to volunteer their time, and as such welcomes anyone who wants to help their community.
The food bank will return to campus on Wednesday Feb. 26 from 1 p.m. until 3 p.m.
