Volunteer Profile: Ben Leviloff

Many of our regular volunteers face higher risks should they contract COVID-19. We encourage them to stay home and return to volunteering only when things are safer.

In our food programs, especially, we’re feeling the volunteer labor shortage. That’s because new safety protocols mean more work. We serve meals to our residents in shifts, cleaning and sanitizing after each seating. We provide table service to keep people from congregating in lines. And for non-residents, we serve meals to-go.

To date, no one in COTS programs or on our staff has tested positive for COVID-19! We know that’s part luck, but it’s also down to our commitment to social distancing, impeccable hygiene, and clear rules and expectations.

All hail the COTS staff members who have risen to the challenge in a magnificent fashion. They are Chef Janin Harmon, Food Services Manager Max Knerler, Food Services Assistant Nichole Bankson, Outreach Specialist Jeff Schueller, and our CEO Chuck Fernandez, who serves lunch almost every day. Many, many thanks to the resident volunteers who have committed to providing meals and safe conditions for their peers.

And many, many thanks to the community volunteers—new and continuing—who have stepped up during the shelter-in-place order. Though we’re careful to follow all prescribed safety protocols, we know our volunteers, like our frontline staff, exhibit both compassion and bravery when they walk through our doors.

Ben Leviloff, 18, is a new volunteer. And a newcomer to Petaluma. He graduated high school early and is bound for college in the fall to study Math.

When the epidemic struck, he had just started his own math tutoring company, which he quickly moved online. “My two passions are math and teaching. So, doing this is a win-win.”

When the shelter-in-place order hit, he wanted to do something to help, but he knew almost nothing about his new town. He surfed around on his phone and found COTS. And are we ever happy he did.

He’s been helping in the kitchen every Monday for the last month. After suiting up with mask, gloves and apron, Ben spends the first part of his day sorting food. He refrigerates the perishables, stores the shelf-stables and composts the unsalvageable. Then, Food Services Manager Max Knerler will put him to work prepping food for the following day. One day, he’ll crack eggs for two hours. On another, he may chop peppers.

Then it’s time to get ready for dinner. Ben will help serve up meals: in to-go boxes for non-residents and on plates for residents. Come 5 p.m., residents start coming in the door in shifts of 12. Each sits at his or own table, appropriately distanced from all the others. Ben will deliver a meal, take a drink order and engage in a little friendly chat–more and more chat each week.

“I am not the life skills-type guy. I like a good book in the classroom. I’m shy until I get comfortable in my environment,” Ben says. “But after a few weeks, I’ve been building up confidence. We’re having more conversations. And they [the residents] have been building up confidence in me that I’ll come back.”

Diners are “incredibly well-mannered and nice,” Ben says. “I already knew it, but it just shows you shouldn’t judge people by their appearance.”

Like everybody these days, our resident are under a lot of stress. Ben saw someone break down in tears the last time he was in. “It struck me how much the situation is affecting people there. Hopefully, I’m helping a little. Hopefully, they can manage until this is over.”

“When I’ve gone through struggles, I’ve always had key people around me who have helped and guided me. I’ve come to appreciate them,” he says, “especially in recent years. They’ve taught me how important it is to pay it forward and to live a meaningful life. Doing things for others is what makes you happy.”

From his still-limited experience of COTS, he sees it as a place where people can regain security and find housing. And the food programs are essential to that: “Everybody should be well fed and taken care of while they’re in the process of finding stability. In fact, you can’t find stability without having the basics.”

He lives with his parents, who were initially concerned about his volunteering, fearing that Ben would encounter risks at COTS. But he explained our safety protocols and they now support his efforts.

Outside of his tutoring work and his volunteering, Ben is using shelter-in-place to work on his running, with a goal of completing a half marathon by the end of the summer. He’s also keeping in touch with friends.

His advice to people thinking about volunteering: “Get yourself out there.” You may or may not want to volunteer in a way that gets you out of your home, but “with every situation, there’s an opportunity.”

Thank you, Ben!