Man of the hour

Jim Britton clearly does not seek the limelight. Instead, his motive for putting in more than 2,000 hours of volunteer time this past year with the Waseca Area Food Shelf is far more altruistic.

“The way I look at it, we’re here to help the people who need help.”

He tells the story of arriving at the food shelf one day to find a nervous woman pacing back and forth on the sidewalk outside. “Can I help you?” he asked.  She was slow to respond, but after a bit of reassurance shared that she was at her wits’ end regarding how to feed her family.

The smile on Britton’s face is warm and genuine as he says simply, “So I got her inside and got her what she needed.”

Of course, Britton is quick to point out, that single incident is far from the only one that could be shared. Supported by donations and grants, and by sales at the Neighborhood Service Center thrift store at 203 Third Avenue NW, the Waseca Area Food Shelf has been in operation since the 1970s and serves 150 families or more each month from all over Waseca County.

What’s new about the food shelf is that it has a just-finished home of its own, connected directly to the Neighborhood Service Center. As a custom-built home should, it has all the features its builders could hope for–at least nearly

With about 1,600 square feet of space all on one level, the new structure is more accessible than the temporary facility the food shelf has been occupying for about the past year, at St. John’s Lutheran Church. It has a wide-open public space where items can be set out and sorted, and where occasional tasks such as putting together holiday baskets or holding an open house can be accomplished.  It is connected to the Neighborhood Service Center, so staff can move freely between the two establishments, thus manning both at once. There is a double-wide delivery door for bringing large shipments in or out.  It also features a large, walk-in freezer which Britton points to appreciatively and claims, “We can store everything we need to right here.”

And, Britton’s fellow food shelf governing board members are quick to emphasize, none of it would be in place right now without his 2,000 hours of work and dedication.

As a now-retired plumbing contractor, Britton used his knowledge, experience and connections to help arrange for the financing and design for the structure, then went on to manage and oversee its construction.

There were numerous complications...nearly all of which Britton had a hand in overcoming. It was he who communicated with lawyers and planning agencies about meeting the legal requirements to consolidate the newly-acquired lot and the one where the Neighborhood Service Center stands into a single legal property, thus making the construction possible.  When complications with that process occurred and delays kept contractors from being able to meet their original timetables–which would have had the building completed in September–it was Britton who found new time slots for work to take place.  All the while, he was also giving generously of his time and resources to cope with the day-to-day tasks needed to keep the operation at St. John’s running as smoothly as possible. For one thing, the space being rented there did not have a large freezer, so when frozen items had to be loaded into or fetched from the freezer space donated by Sacred Heart Church, it was often Britton who made it happen. 

Phone call after phone call, text after text, solution after solution, his fellow board members credit Britton with having given beyond all expectations–perhaps even beyond reason–to cope with the complications and emergencies which arose both from the construction and from the necessarily piecemeal operations of the temporary food shelf at St. John’s.

Yet, even as his fellow board members enumerate his contributions, Britton smiles shyly and shrugs his shoulders. “It just needed to be done,” he says.

Instead, he compliments others whose skills, efforts and goodwill made progress possible. He names Trevor Kanewischer who, along with Sacred Heart, loaned freezer space. He mentions Bill Green at Keen Bank, City of Waseca Building Official Mike Benson, and others whose assistance he values. He goes on to name community members who operate programs like Santa Anonymous, commenting that, thanks to the work of Beth Krause and Becky Dennis, the recently-emptied food shelf space at St. John’s is now filling rapidly with toys.

His eyes shine as he lists the efforts and dedication of others. “These folks bend over backward to make our projects happen,” he says. “We couldn’t ask for a more giving, more generous community.”

In the meantime, Britton’s fellow board members joke that he is a “man without social capital.” 

“He’s called in so many favors over the past year,” jokes food shelf committee chair Larry Sipe, “that he’s in debt now.”

Britton shrugs, almost as if to deflect the praise.

It is, of course, self evident that all food shelf governing board members are euphoric over the completion of the new facility. They speak excitedly about the many projects and initiatives which will be streamlined in the new space. But among the reasons for their excitement is the fact that their “man of the hour” can fade from the demanding central role he has occupied for the past several months.

Rather than simultaneously spearheading the construction and troubleshooting daily operations, Britton can meld back into the more everyday tasks of fundraising, public outreach, and occasional management decisions shared by the board as a whole.

On the to-do list right now are Christmastime distribution of food and gifts, seeking volunteer groups to help with the many associated tasks, and the never-ending search for funding–including covering some remaining costs for the new building.

“We’re grateful beyond words for everything Jim has done,” says Sipe. “And we’re equally grateful he gets to stop doing quite so much of it.”