Job Description

Please note this is a temporary 6 month assignment

JOB SUMMARY

The food pantry assistant will work as a team member with several social service professional and paraprofessional staff performing duties and providing support for pantry operation, service and clients.  The St. Joseph Center Food Pantry is a fast paced, dynamic environment and the pantry assistant’s role is to support team members, the operation of the food pantry, ensuring high quality service and maintaining an excellent, positive and friendly environment. The food pantry assistant is efficient, organized, collaborative, and proactive. 

ESSENTIAL DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

The food pantry assistant’s key areas of responsibility and duties include: 

KEY AREAS OF RESPONSIBILITY: 

• Provide support during hours of Operation, as well as with service setup and clean up. 
• Maintain and support food inventory and an organized pantry space.
• Assist in cleaning, stocking and unloading truck of incoming donations. 
• Sanitize and clean high use items and tools. Assist with regular sanitization and cleaning procedures. 
• Respond quickly and effectively to the fluctuating needs and demands of service and operation while maintaining and fostering positivity and collaborating with team members. 
• Support donation pick-ups.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES: 

• Set-up (restock and make sure pantry is presentable) and clean-up (put away refrigerated items and throw away expired items) before and after pantry operating hours.  
• Pack and prepare food bags to distribute to Food Pantry clients.
• Maintain receiving area by sweeping, cleaning, tidying and discarding cardboard boxes.
• Assist with monthly deep cleaning of the pantry (i.e. sweep and mop walk-in refrigerator, clean milk crates, clean produce racks, and sweep pantry storage)  
• Assist in managing the food pantry inventory and other duties as assigned
• Collaborate and communicate with staff regarding pantry needs for Westside Food Bank orders.
• Rotate and distribute food in a timely manner.  Keep food pantry fully stocked in order to make room in the pantry storage for basement stored donations.  Maintain an organized and open space that ensures there is always available storage for drop-off of new donations

Other duties and responsibilities may be assigned. The duties and responsibilities listed are designed to provide typical examples of the work performed; not all duties and responsibilities assigned are included here, nor is it expected that all similar positions will be assigned every duty and responsibility.

Qualifications

QUALIFICATIONS

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & ABILITIES:

• Excellent organizational skills and the ability to estimate quantity of food needed. This will help Staff determine inventory levels and orders.
• Excellent communication and relational skills to assist and coordinate with volunteers and staff
• Ability to collaborate and work efficiently with team members. 
• Maintaining Pantry and upholding Food Safety standards. 
• Attention to detail while sorting grocery store donations (checking expiration dates and proper refrigeration of perishable items)
• Sorting and bagging of produce and miscellaneous items.
• The ability to meet physical demands of lifting up to 50lbs or more.
• Organizing and restocking Food Pantry inventory.
• Assist in unloading large donations from Agency truck.
• Putting away incoming donations. 
• Packing grocery bags for clients. 
• Putting produce crates and bags away for the day. 
• Condensing inventory at the end of the day to make room for next day deliveries. 
• Maintain and organize Case Manager pick-up area. 
• Recycling and trash duties.
• Ability to meet sustained physical demands of pantry maintenance and operation and an ability to keep pace with the needs and requirements to run the pantry during service. Daily demands include heavy lifting for unloading and moving delivery of goods from delivery truck; heavy lifting for setting up grocery and produce inventory for service, moving goods from storage to shelves, stocking and re-stocking.

EXPERIENCE:

• Prior food service and/or customer service experience is preferred.

EDUCATION:

• High School Diploma

DIRECT REPORTS:

This position has no direct supervisory responsibilities.  

COMPUTER SKILLS:

• Strong proficiency in MS Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook) or the capability to learn new computer programming
• Ability to use widely supported internet browsers.

CERTIFICATES, LICENSES AND REGISTRATIONS:

• Valid California Class C Driver License or the ability to utilize an alternative method of transportation when needed to carry out job-related essential functions. 
• Valid automobile liability insurance.

TRAVEL REQUIREMENTS:

• Occasional offsite visits to Westside Food Bank or donation pick up sites.

Additional Information

Status: Full-Time/Non-Exempt 

Salary: DOE

Employment with St. Joseph Center is contingent on completion of satisfactory background check.

For consideration, please submit cover letter and resume. St. Joseph Center is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to their race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. All applicants for employment are invited to voluntarily self-identify their gender, race, ethnicity, and veteran status, by completing the EEO Information. Providing your EEO Information is voluntary and refusal to self-identify will not subject applicants to any adverse treatment. Similarly, applicants who do self-identify will not be subject to any adverse treatment based on the information they provide.

St. Joseph center invites you to review the current "EEO is The Law" poster as part of the application process. A link to the current poster is located here.

 https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf