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Your Catholic Neighbor: Elidia Beltran
Warehouse manager packs up food for hungry
By Joyce Coronel The Catholic Sun
December 6, 2007
MESA — The line of people waiting to pick up free food snakes all the way out the back of the ramada at Paz de Cristo, a soup kitchen and pantry that serves the poor.
It’s the last Saturday of the month and Elidia Beltran, the manager of the warehouse, is busy directing more than two dozen volunteers who have come to help distribute vegetables, bread and food boxes.
Beltran, a parishioner at nearby Queen of Peace, bustles about, showing a group of teenagers how to transfer hundreds of loaves of bread from palettes onto shelves for the incoming clients. After 19 years as a plant manager for an aerospace company in California where 162 employees answered to her, Beltran knows how to keep workers on task.
Her current job entails managing the large warehouse of food Paz de Cristo stocks to help hundreds of low-income people in Mesa. The organization feeds about 225 people at the evening meal offered seven days a week. They also distribute 600 boxes twice a month to the needy, though that number continues to rise.
Beltran’s job involves a lot of heavy lifting as she packs the food boxes, making sure to include enough goods to prepare five meals. The large containers include such staples as canned fruits, vegetables and soups, pasta, rice, cereal, jars of peanut butter and jelly and at least two loaves of bread.
At times, Beltran visits stores and restaurants to pick up food donations. She rattles off a list of businesses that help keep the Paz de Cristo pantry stocked with food to distribute to the Valley’s poor.
“We have three Fry’s that we go to and two Safeways, Costco, It’s a Grind coffee shop, the Alpine Village Bakery, Olive Garden and Red Lobster,” she said.
Asked how she feels about seeing so much food that would otherwise go to waste being given to the poor, Beltran says she’s happy to be able to gather it all up and then able to give it away to those in need.
The apron-clad, energetic mother of two grown daughters began serving at Paz as a full-time volunteer a few years ago when she moved here from California. She was offered the position as warehouse manager a few months later and acknowledges the work is entirely different from her previous employment.
“The biggest difference here is I can see the people face to face,” she said. “Over there, it was dealing with people on the phone and checking with my supervisor. Here, I can give out and don’t have to check first with a supervisor.”
Although she helps thousands of people, Beltran will never forget one person who sought assistance after falling on hard times.
He was in his late 40s or early 50s and had come to ask for a food box. About a month later the man returned and presented her with a check for $45.
“He told me, ‘This is how I’m repaying you for the help I needed. Now I’m OK and I can help,’” Beltran said with a smile. “He got a job, got his first check, and wanted to help — and he did.
“I love what I do. I can go to some other places but I don’t think I’d be as happy as I am here.”
What do you enjoy most about your work?
What I enjoy the most is seeing the smiling faces when we meet other people’s needs. It’s great when you give to them and they see that you have what they need.
What do you like most about being Catholic?
This job has given me the opportunity to grow spiritually and mentally because of the kind of volunteers that we have. There are some who really build my faith. I learn from the ones who have lots of faith and I try to share some of that with others who have less. We learn from each other.
How does your work help you grow in faith?
It helps me because it increases my faith. I see they are here because they have a problem and I am here to help them in anything I can. It touches my heart, especially the children, but anybody you see. They come here because they are in need and I feel I can help.
What’s your favorite quote?
“Hoy por ti, mañana por mi.” In other words, I’m helping you today, but tomorrow I may be the one in need.
What’s your favorite movie?
“Life is Beautiful,” because I can see how a parent sacrificed and protected the innocence of the child.
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