We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Louise Goben a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Louise thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?
I have been volunteering with the North Hollywood Interfaith Food Pantry since it began in 1983. It was started by 5 women in the North Hollywood area during the recession of that time. I was impacted by many of the policies enacted by the Reagan Administration, including loosing my job with the VA Hospital. Many jobs were cut at that time.
I was fortunate. I was able to use that time to go back to school and do some graduate work. However I knew others who really struggled during this time. It resembled today’s context. Loss of jobs, more expensive food and gasoline, I had little income that could be donated, but I did have a strong, young body that could move sacks of groceries. I donated by time.
The church I attended is one of the original supporters of the Pantry. My husband and I raised our kids volunteering at the Pantry, helping to pack or move sacks of groceries. When I retired during the Pandemic (my job was also sort of a casualty of COVID) I was able to spend more of my time distributing food, I was a replacement volunteer on the “front lines” as many of the regulars were asked to stay at home, due to their age. People over a certain age were particularly vulnerable to COVID.
I was asked to become the Chair of the Board of Directors and I have served in that capacity since 2021. And I continue to volunteer at the distribution site. I like knowing the people we serve. I like learning their stories. They live in our community and I believe it is important for people to know that their community supports and cares about them.
Since the pandemic, our numbers have continued to grow. We have experienced strikes in the entertainment industry, food shortages, fires, rising costs of food and energy. The need for the community to stand by one another hasn’t changed. It continues to grow. It is my privilege to part of building connections.
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I was born and raised in this community. My older sister, brother and I attended all the same schools as our parents bought their first home in what was then considered North Hollywood – now Studio City. Our family was also members of First Christian Church where we all quite active. When I was preparing to graduate at North Hollywood High School, the minister of this church encouraged me to consider entering seminary to become a minister. That was kind of a scary proposition as there were very few women clergy at the time.
After taking a few detours, including earning an M.A. in Clinical Psychology and working in research at UCLA and the VA in North Hills, I did finally end up enrolling in seminary. I served at two different churches before I was called back to my home congregation at First Christian Church, where I served for nearly 30 years. For me, the most satisfying parts of being in ministry is caring for people. It is such an honor to be part of the most important events in the lives of others – weddings, new babies, celebrations, hospitalizations, and even walking with those experiencing deep grief with the loss of a loved one.
This is also where I came to have a real appreciation for community. When people care about one another on fundamental levels, it reverberates out into the world. This is how we make a difference in people’s lives. People know when caring is genuine. And that care helps others feel safe – they can count on others to be sincere and helpful. That is increasingly rare in our current climate. The Pantry as been that space for over 40 years. It has a track record of compassion and service. People can count on us.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
The NHIFP has never turned anyone away because of lack of food. We have not closed our door in over 42 years, except for one week at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.
The closure was not because we were short of food, but we were short of volunteers! Nearly all of our volunteers were connected with the various faith communities that support the work of the Pantry. They were also senior citizens who were asked to remain at home dur to their potential vulnerability from the virus. This meant that it was necessary to quickly recruit new, younger volunteers, and to alter how food was distributed.
The Pantry prided itself on knowing their clients. Many were on a first name basis. The process of receiving clients and recording how much food came in, and went out was pretty low key and relaxed. Suddenly, everything shifted. Protocols had to be changed. We were less able to “tailor” bags of food for those we knew. Rather we had to be prepared to distribute a much larger number of bags of food to a much larger number of recipients. It had to be done safely as pandemic protocols needed to be observed.
What was very gratifying about this time was that there were so many of our neighbors who stepped up to serve. People who knew that Pantry was there, but had not interreacted with us. “What can I do to help?” was a refrain we heard repeatedly. That help was welcomed on so many levels and thus, we still have a track record of never closing due to food shortages or lack of volunteers.
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
For many food pantries, the pandemic was a make or break time. There were many that shut their doors. Others were able to resource more food and grow to meet the demands of the sheer numbers of people experiencing food insecurity.
During the pandemic we grew. There are a variety of city and county websites that listed the NHIFP as a resource for people. If you conduct a web search for “food pantries near me,” we are often the first agency that will appear for the East San Fernando Valley. We continued to see an increase in the number of people coming to the Pantry even as the pandemic strictures eased, and we needed to find a larger space to accommodate more food.
A storefront space opened up around the corner from our distribution space. The owner was willing to make it available for our use. But for the first time, we were going to need to pay rent. This was a tough decision for the Board to make as we really rely on donations. The pandemic was easing, and we were concerned that the generosity we benefited from might also begin to wane. Taking a leap of faith we signed the contract.
The day we received the keys to our new distribution site, a legacy gift was deposited in our checking account for $500,000. We had been anticipating a donation that was left to us in someone’s will, and had been waiting for a couple of years. Yet, we were stunned at the timing of these events. Gratitude doesn’t even begin to describe what that felt like!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nhifp.org
- Instagram: North Hollywood Interfaith Food Pantry
- Facebook: North Hollywood Interfaith Food Pantry
- Linkedin: North Hollywood Interfaith Food Pantry
Image Credits
Louise Goben, Jeff Goben, and Buenrostro Grower
Louise Goben,