“I want people to understand how big volunteering is for one’s community as it leads to many great opportunities in their career. It did for me and now I am in a position that I absolutely love and enjoy being at work every day – not many can say that at twenty-three years of age,” notes class of 2019 alum Daniel Mahoney about his journey as a Full Cart Coordinator for the Full Cart Program of the nonprofit Feeding Children Everywhere.
While the nation tries to stay healthy during the COVID-19 pandemic, he is spending his days getting food in the hands of those in need. The Full Cart virtual food bank partners with donors to cover the cost of food and ships groceries directly to a person’s door. His responsibilities include managing inventory, fulfilling orders, packing meals, leading interns, creating and updating Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s), driving a forklift, communicating with FedEx about shipments, and much more.
“I got involved in the organization when I was searching for an internship for HCC after my junior year. The reason why I was looking in Central Florida was because my parents had just bought their future retirement home and I decided to put my resume out there and see what happens as I didn’t think they would take a chance on a kid from Indiana. But low and behold they did, it changed my life, and once I saw the opportunity for a staff position here, I knew I had it in the bag,” said Mahoney.
During these last few months, the pandemic has had an effect on the position, and he is thankful that he is considered essential and been able to stay open during this difficult time.
“Our warehouse was split into three teams for two months where we could only be in contact with that specific team. It had its challenges, but we made the best of the situation and were able to get tens of thousands of boxes out during that time-span,” notes Mahoney.
Holy Cross College helped prepare him in various ways for this opportunity and the changes the pandemic brought to the work environment.
“Mrs. Cressy allowing me to take this internship opportunity allowed me to realize how fortunate that some of us are and that we sometimes take things for granted. Something simple as having access to clean food and water was something I took for granted before this internship,” said Mahoney. “The business program definitely gave me a big advantage when it comes to the financial side of Full Cart and being a men’s basketball manager all four years for Coach McBride taught me discipline in being responsible and taking ownership of it, along with being hands on whenever needed.”
To learn more about the organization visit their website at FullCart.Org.