122. Food Pantry Innovation: Building Community & Dignity at Benny’s Bodega (with Co-Founder and President Ben Davey)

Benny’s Bodega is a nonprofit in New Jersey that is reimagining what a food pantry can be. More than just a place to receive groceries and essential items, it’s a welcoming space designed to foster dignity, connection, and a true sense of community.

In this episode, I sit down with Ben Davey, co-founder of Benny’s Bodega, to talk about the heart behind their mission and how they are transforming the traditional food pantry model. Ben shares how creating a respectful, community-centered environment can make a lasting impact on the people they serve.

Ben also shares some great stories of all he went through to start his nonprofit and the positive impact it has on their volunteers, their clients, and their community as a whole. We also dive into what it really means to serve others with empathy, intention, and compassion—and how small shifts in approach can completely change the experience for those in need.

Whether you volunteer, run a nonprofit, work in food insecurity programs, or are simply looking for meaningful ways to give back, this conversation offers powerful insights and inspiration. You’ll walk away with practical ideas for building community, restoring dignity, and making a difference through service.

Links mentioned in the episode:

Benny's Bodega Website

Benny's Bodega Instagram

Benny's Bodega Facebook

Follow the podcast on social media:

Do Something More Instagram

Do Something More Facebook

Do Something More YouTube

Transcript

Melissa: Benny's Bodega is a nonprofit in New Jersey that is revolutionizing the way food pantries are thought of and run.

It's not only a shop where people can come to get the food and necessary items they need, but a place that fosters a true sense of belonging and community.

I loved my down to earth conversation with Ben Davey, who along with his wife founded Benny's Bodega and learning from him about how to truly see people and serve them with your heart and soul.

I think anyone who is involved in volunteering or running a food pantry or a local nonprofit could learn a lot from this conversation with Ben and about the good work he is doing.

Welcome to the Do Something More podcast.

The show all about service where we highlight the helpers who inspire us all to do something more.

If you're passionate about nonprofits or looking for simple ways to volunteer and give back to the causes that matter to you,

this is the podcast for you.

I'm your host, Melissa Draper.

Stick around and I'll show you all the many ways anyone can truly make a difference in our world today.

Welcome to this episode of the podcast. Today I have invited Ben Davey. He is the president and co founder with his wife of Benny's Bodega and a brick and mortar store that lets people in need come and get basic need items and food for free.

And he's started this all on his own. It is a true community effort.

I'm excited to learn more from him, not only about the good that he does with his bodega, but also how he got it started. So, Ben, welcome to the podcast.

Ben: Thank you for having me. Very, very grateful to have this conversation with you and to be featured on your very successful podcast. So thank you.

Melissa: Thank you so much.

So let's just get started with you introducing a little bit about yourself and then let's get into how Benny's Bodega started, which really does kind of go with some of your background as well.

Ben: It does. So I am a New Jersey native, born and raised in northern New Jersey. I have spent the last 19 years of my career as a child protective worker in various capacities.

I am a. I have my master's in social work, I'm a graduate from Fordham University,

and I am a licensed clinical social worker, which means I get to practice therapy and I have my own small private practice in here in New Jersey called It Starts Today.

Melissa: Wow, that's great. And then you mentioned you co founded the bodega with your wife.

Ben: I did. So Benny's bodega is about 6, almost 7 years old. It'll be 7 years old in June 1st of this year,

but it has been ongoing for about eight, nine years now. As I mentioned, I have a long career in as a child protective services worker. And in that role,

about eight, nine years ago, I was able to achieve a internal promotion to a community liaison for the office.

In that community liaison job, I was able to foster and establish relationships in the community and turned the back portion of my cubicle into the original Benny's Bodega.

And so that was all kind of facilitated by. I used to investigate allegations of abuse and neglect.

And when you knock it on people's doors asking about very personal and allegations, I guess what you do is you start to understand that, you know, you're there to address the allegations, of course,

but you understand that a lot of are struggling and a lot of people struggle to make ends meet. So in that role as an investigator, I came across a bunch of different families.

And in that, I wanted to help.

And the state of New Jersey, which is the governing body behind Child Protective services in New Jersey,

doesn't always allow you to help in the way to which you want to help.

So one of the stories that kind of facilitated me helping was,

and my wife tells this story a lot better than I do, but there was around Halloween,

and I had just had an interaction with a young child that needed to be removed from her home.

And because she was removed from her home, she didn't have a lot of the belongings, and she was worried about her Halloween costume and having a Halloween experience.

So I took it upon myself to go to the Halloween store local in our community,

and we got her a costume.

And I had to call my wife because at that time, me and her were also living paycheck to paycheck.

I had to call her and say, hey, listen, you know, I want to buy this young lady a Halloween costume. But in that Halloween costume, what she wanted, I needed to buy, like a long sickle, if you will.

So I asked her for.

Melissa: Very popular with the kids, right?

Ben: So I had to ask her for permission to get this costume and to get. Not really permission, but I had to make sure that we had the funds for it really.

And, you know, she came at me and said, ben, we cannot keep buying stuff, because this wasn't the first time I had this asked.

And shortly thereafter, of course, we bought her a sickle, and of course, we made sure that she had a great Halloween experience, because, you know, that's an important part of being a social worker.

But in doing that, shortly thereafter, I achieved that internal promotion to the community liaison that I forementioned.

And in doing so, it allowed me to, like I said, turn the back portion of my cubicle into the original Betty's Bodega. But that story was kind of an impetus behind.

Behind it. Right. I just had a desire to help, and I wanted to help. And that internal promotion allowed me to go out in the community,

talk about what we were trying to do,

gather belongings or gather basic needs necessities for our caseworkers, which was the original idea, to have caseworkers come and. And grab basic need items for families that they were engaging with.

So that was kind of the. The story and in the beginning of. Of Benny's Bodega, and then after,

you know, we. We were doing that for a year or two, and it started to get super successful, a lot more successful than I ever imagined it would be.

And we started to garner a lot of support from the community. So the back portion of my cubicle turned into, like I said, the Benny's Bodega, but all the overflow started coming to my house.

So a lot of stuff was. A lot of stuff was in the house. And then shortly thereafter, the pandemic hit.

We still had these relationships, and we still had food and other necessities coming in.

So the bodega moved from my back part of my cubicle to my home,

and we were delivering food and we were delivering basic needs, says the necessities to everybody. Because at that point, everybody kind of needs stuff. Everybody was out of work.

So we started delivering certain items to people. We started making different connections to people, fostering different relationships with people.

And in doing so,

I ran into an.

An old work colleague of mine at a school function. And I was telling him about Benny's Bodega and what I was hoping to achieve. And he said, instead of using your house, I have this extra space in my.

In my office. He was a therapist as well, and he had a neighboring office that nobody was being. That nothing nobody was using. So he said, come by and check it out.

And it ended up being this third floor attic space up like two flights of stairs.

It had poor lighting. There was no ventilation.

Melissa: Not the most accessible place.

Ben: Definitely not the most accessible place. But what it did do is it allowed us to get out of my house and it allow us to set and to organize the different supplies we had in a manner to which people could come and shop and feel comfortable in asking for help.

So the process started as my. As an investigator I mean, the idea started when I was an investigator.

I got the internal promotion, and then it kind of just grew as I established relationships and garnered support from the community and ultimately grew into that third floor attic space where we spent the first year of kind of just, you know,

making sure people had an avenue to get help. But like I said, it wasn't the best spot up three flights of stairs. You know what it's like carrying food in a refrigerator and all this stuff up three flights of stairs.

Melissa: I think I only did that in college. Yeah, that's the only time I did that 100%.

Ben: Except now I was in my 30s, and by the time I was getting there, I was out of breath and, you know,

and.

But like I said, it allowed us to kind of organize things and put things in a manner to which people could shop. So that's kind of how it started. And that's kind of the delineation of Betty's bodega.

Melissa: Yeah, I. I love that story. And I want to go back a little bit because I think a lot of us can relate to that feeling of wanting to help, especially when you're talking about vulnerable children and you seeing that every day in the work that you do and.

But I think it's so impressive. I do have to sympathize with your wife. I can understand that.

Not having the resources always to match the desires of our heart.

And so I think it's so impressive that you obviously realized personally you couldn't keep matching those. Those needs.

But then to turn it and say, but there's gotta be others.

And there's places in the community that care about this. They just don't have the eyes on it like I do. How can I help them see that need and help contribute?

I. I just. I think how you made that connection, and maybe you could share a little bit more how you did that and how you were able to be successful with that.

Ben: So I think you said it a lot better than I did, of course. But I think Vulnerable Children strikes a chord in a lot of us.

And a lot of times there are people that can't really fend for themselves,

and there are people that can't really advocate for herself, so they need a voice.

And in this instance, she was in an unsafe environment,

and we needed to make sure, first of all, that she was safe.

But then after she's safe and after she feels safe, then we're trying to live a normal life.

And it's important that you kind of do what you need to do to minimize the trauma of not being around mom or dad.

And she really wanted to have a good Halloween.

And I didn't want to, I wanted to foster that. And like you said, vulnerable children, it just, it strikes a chord in you. It makes you feel like you need to help.

And she was a.

Just a wonderful young young lady, and I wanted to make sure she had a good Halloween.

And my wife knows this about me. I have a big heart, but,

you know, good intentions don't pay the bills. You know what I mean?

Melissa: Yeah. Right. Yeah. Like I said, we're waiting for our resources to catch with the desires that

Ben: we have for sure, no doubt, 100%.

So I'm very, I'm very grateful for her and her putting up with me for all these years. And you know, I, I was an investigator for,

in various capacities for about a decade, so there was a lot of *** over the course of that decade.

And I'm, I'm very grateful for her and I'm very grateful for what she allowed me to do with, with our money. And on top of that, when I started Benny's Bodega in 2019,

you know, you can always, you can start a nonprofit yourself. It's just paperwork and filing it with the appropriate people in government,

federal and state,

but it's, it can be an arduous application and it's a thick application. And the last thing I wanted to do was screw that up and prolong it being organized and it being official.

So what we did do is I again asked her. We had about, I don't know, maybe $3,000 saved up at that point. And it took about $2,000 to start the nonprofit because I got, I had to get it through an attorney, and then we had to get an accountant to make sure the accountants were right.

So by the time everything was said and done, I was about $2,000 into this, you know, to this venture into something that, you know now, and we'll talk later about what it is now.

But I had no idea what it would grow into.

I just knew that I wanted to help and I knew that people wanted to help through my, through my relationships in the community. And they just needed an avenue to help.

And I wanted to listen. I'm not good at a lot of things, trust me. You asked me to fix something. I'm gonna hurt myself. You asked me to do certain things.

It's, it's not going to work out. But what I do have a God given ability to, to serve people and to help people.

So that's kind of What I did, I just took my ability and I, you know, my relationships and, and some of my money and created an avenue so people had the opportunity to help.

Melissa: Right. You, you and your wife have definitely put all of your heart and souls into this venture.

Ben: Oh, thank you, I appreciate that.

Melissa: And now I'm guessing you've moved from that attic space for a little bit.

Ben: So that's kind of a story too. So get this. So it was 2021 and around 2021 or 2022 and we, our, our yearly lease was up and the, our landlord was an owner of many different buildings and properties and we had a fundraise so we paid our year ahead of time.

So we were always current and we never asked for a break from him, but we found out through,

because there was a business, there was a gym below us. And in communicating with him, we found out that his business and other business that this landlord owned, he had given them a three to four month break on rent,

but he didn't give the nonprofit break on rent.

So when we went to a new release,

I went and got the mail one day and he had upped. We were renting two rooms for a total of 600. So with 300 each and he had raised them each $50.

So it was a hundred dollars more a month. Now it doesn't sound like a lot of money and it's really not a lot of money, but when you don't have anything, yeah,

100.

So when you're trying to get something off the ground, to your point, every, every dollar means something.

And I, I, I took it so personal that he raised the rent and it was only a hundred dollars a month. But I got, so,

I got so angry and I was very frustrated by the fact that he raised our rent but gave other businesses who have income and have the means to get subsidized by the government through whatever grants that were available at that time.

And we, me and my wife, I vented and expressed my frustration to my wife and we, we do weekly lives or bi weekly lives on the bodega. And at that point we, we went live and I expressed my frustration to the community.

And at that point we only had a couple, maybe a thousand or two followers, if that, you know what I mean?

And it was a late night live. I was like 8, 9 o'. Clock. We vented our frustration and explained what the landlord had did.

And I guess I know somebody that was watching, reached out and her name was Penny Boyle and she reached out to Penny and Penny was a,

a Business owner or a building owner in a town. It's called New, and it's where we're from, and it's like the center of our county. We live in Sussex county,

and Newton is like the county seat, as they call it. So it's like the center. It's where all the human resources are. It's where you want to be if you.

If you need help, right?

So Penny called me about 10 o' clock at night, and she left me a message. Hey, I heard you're. You're looking for a place. Give me a call back. And it was.

By the time I got the message, it was 10:30, 10:45 at night. And I'm like, Heather. And I'm like, my wife. And I'm like, should I call her back? It's late.

She said to call her. I don't really feel comfortable calling her. You could tell she was a little older. I'm like, I don't really feel comfortable calling her.

So I waited,

and the next day, immediately got up and I gave her a call,

and she offered her building to us. We met them, of course. We went down and we saw the building, and she offered it to us for a discounted rate. So our mortgage, I mean mortgage, our rent went up.

But we now were in the county seat of the town,

being a great location.

So we had some fundraising to do, of course, and we took a gamble in getting this spot, but we signed a lease for a year, and from there we were out of that third floor attic, and we were into this,

you know, beautiful building.

We were in a county seat. We were right where we needed to be in order to grow and in order to serve as many people as possible. So my venting and my frustration and all my.

All my. Whatever, my feelings came to a head and luckily, unfortunately, and Penny heard us and met with us and offered her location to us for.

For a discounted rate. So we signed the lease and we moved in, I believe. April 1st of 2022.

Melissa: I love those stories that show for every nonprofit. It certainly is a different journey on how you have those downs and those ups and praying for those times that you hope a donation or something will come through to help you out.

Ben: So true.

Melissa: Well, I want to just kind of have you take us into Benny's Bodega, what that experience is like for the people you're helping and the people who are volunteering there.

And I think one of the things that really stood out to me, too, is that you have no government funding.

You are 100% from your supporters and the community effort, which is really impressive too.

Ben: So the government funding comes with a unique story as well.

Melissa: Okay.

Ben: So I work for the state and I work for the government. And listen, without being too negative,

the government is not always in the business of helping the government. It operates like a business. And a lot of times it's in the, it's in the business of self service.

Right. It wants to help itself and, and it has certain policies and, and restrictions. And that's fine because everything does.

Melissa: Strings attached. Yep.

Ben: Correct. Yes, there's strings attached when you're in business with the government.

And I've learned that through my employment.

So when we were organizing the bodega and developing the idea and its mission, the one of the things that stood out was we did not want to be affiliated with the government and something that kind of supported that notion.

When we met with, we were, we were trying to get as many supplies into the bodega as possible.

And the federal, there's, there's federal food banks in just about every area in every state.

But most people don't know when you get food from a federal food bank.

At least out here, I'll say that because I'm not sure how it is in other parts of the, parts of the country. But over here you have to pay a nominal price for the food, which is fine, they deliver it.

But after you pay for it and they deliver it, they still dictate to you how and who gets it.

And that never made any sense to me.

And I never wanted to be affiliated with the government anyway. So when they told me, yes, you have to pay for the food, but we'll deliver it, but you have to do X, Y and Z in order for us to have this relationship.

I said, okay, well, that's not going to work for me.

And I'd rather work harder than make it easy on me because it would have been so easy for me to say, okay, and then have just kind of a regular food pantry,

because that's really what it boils down to. So I didn't want that. I didn't want to be in, in bed with the government, if you will. And then this interaction kind of supplanted that as, as something that I did not want to do.

So we worked even harder to establish relationships in the community.

And because of the way that they operate, they actually was a, was a blessing. We've started formulating relationships with supermarkets around the area.

And in New Jersey, Whole Foods Supermarket, Wegmans Supermarket, and Trader Joe's are Big suppliers of groceries in this area.

And through different connections and through different people helping us out, we were able to establish relationships with those three entities. And they now supply us with all our food.

So when you come shopping at the bodega, you're shopping at high end grocery stores.

Quality food, Healthy,

healthy choices and healthy opportunities and not government type food. So their way of doing things actually led us to a better way of doing things and having better, healthier options for our customers.

So that was kind of a unique thing. In it, one of the things that separates us from many other food banks in that we don't have any government money, we don't take any government food, we don't have any subsidy from the government.

And because of that,

we're able to operate, like I say, with common sense, and we're allowed to have relationships with other entities that provide healthier options for our customers.

Melissa: It's a true community program that you have running.

Ben: You got it, you got it, you got it. And it's really a community coming together.

Melissa: And I love, I think I read somewhere the name of how you came up with bodega.

Not, maybe not everyone doesn't know what a bodega is, but it's just another name for a grocery store.

That's right,

yeah. How you wanted to, to make sure that people just felt like it was a normal trip to the store for them to come and get what they needed for their families.

Ben: And I appreciate you bringing that up because that's exactly what it is. Now, if I told you I was going to a pantry, right? It creates a different, it creates a certain thought process and people have certain thoughts about going to a food pantry.

If I told you I was going to social services or welfare, people would have certain thoughts and, and beliefs about that.

Now if I tell you I'm going to a bodega, boom, right away, it changes that perspective and it allows you to think about it in a different way.

And ultimately what we're trying to accomplish is there's. We want to decrease the stigma and asking for help. The world is a very difficult place. And specifically in New Jersey, it's very expensive place to live.

The cost of living is extremely high.

And when you say a lot of us need help, a lot of us live paycheck to paycheck, and instead of I'm going to a pantry or I'm going to social services or I'm going here, you can say, I'm going to Benny's bodega.

And nobody would think anything of it, right? They would think that you're going to a deli or a corner store just to get some supplies. And that's the atmosphere that we're trying to create.

There's. There's no shame in asking for help. You shouldn't be embarrassed and asking for help, especially in New Jersey with. Especially the high cost of living. So if we can decrease that stigma just by changing our name,

then that's what we're going to do. And on top of that,

it rhymes with my name and it sounds very good.

Melissa: It's just fun to say. Benny's Bodega.

Yeah, it's got a nice ring to it,

no doubt. Well, let's go back to that question I had. Just kind of take us through those experiences or maybe if you have any specific stories. We love to hear stories on this podcast of those that have come in and benefited or even those that have come in to help as well and volunteer.

Ben: I have stories for days,

so I'll start.

I'll start with our volunteers. Now. We have two paid employees now, but that was not always the case. We started out strictly 100% volunteers.

And one of the things that we pride ourselves on, or two of the things that we pride ourselves on is having youth volunteer, teenagers and young adults volunteer. Because if you can get to them, that's where real change starts to happen, right?

Some of us are a little older, and we're set in our ways. We're setting our beliefs, and that's okay.

But youth can be molded a little bit, right? Young people can be molded a little bit, and they can be taught a little easier than some of us old hats, right?

So we wanted to incorporate youth into our volunteer experience.

And this is just a recent one. So this is. Doesn't go back too far, but this is just a recent one.

Heather and I were in a boat. I was in the bodega this past Saturday,

and a young man who's been with us, he was. He was. His mom reached out a couple years ago. He was being homeschooled, and she needed to have some social interaction with him.

She wanted to teach him the importance of giving back.

And this young man has now been with us for three or four years.

And I just saw him this past Saturday,

and he pulled me aside, had a very nice conversation, was very grateful for the experience of giving back.

And he made a statement about how his life is.

Been positively changed because of his interaction and his volunteer experience in the bodega. Now he's a young man. I don't. I don't even believe he's 18 yet. So the idea that, you know, he has that insight and the ability to come and talk to me and have that conversation with me is really,

really special.

Melissa: Right.

Ben: On top of that,

volunteering usually is a, is a, is a job for people who are retired, typically.

Right.

Because if you're volunteering, right. If you're, if you're not volunteering, you're working.

So we have a lot,

the older population we have,

we're open five days a week,

and we have what we call a leader, which is a supervisor. On each day.

Each supervisor has a team underneath them that, that volunteer with their team.

Now, I wish I can convey the closeness and the togetherness of these teams. These women and some men have come together and strangers now. These are strangers that have come together and have formulated bonds and relationships that are unbreak.

These are people now who have dinner together. These are people now who have drinks together. These are people now who talk about their personal lives,

who send text messages to make sure that they're okay.

And it's rather remarkable when strangers can come together and genuinely care and show compassion and empathy for each other.

And we've been able to create that. And our volunteers value that experience. Right. We want people to own their shift and own their experience at the bodega. And I allow them to do that.

I'm definitely not a micromanager, so we allow them to have that experience.

I can tell you this. A lot of the, the women, because that's really mostly what it is. A lot of the women have come to me, thanked me, cried, given me hugs with one specific volunteer.

Now, we just purchased a $600,000 building not three, four months ago.

Melissa: Wow.

Ben: And one of our volunteers who has been with us for a period of about three, four years now, came up to me on the side, and I won't tell her her name because she'll listen to this podcast, but look at me.

She.

Let's just say that she was very generous and we were able to facilitate the purchase of that building because of her generosity and because of her togetherness with us and her belief in me and my wife and our mission.

And now because of that and her, like I said, her generosity, we were able to purchase that building and establish ourselves as not just a non profit, but a non profit that's not going where that's serving hundreds and thousands of people per month.

And so it's not a specific story in that I'm not. I can't really tell you what she said because she values anonymity. But her generosity has it's. It's mind blowing and it makes you just take a step back and reflect back on what you're doing.

And I'm very grateful for her relationship and the relationships that we've established with our volunteers.

And they own their shift and it's because of them that when our customers come in and they shop,

we've done surveys. Right. With our customers in the experience. I love the volunteers. You're so nice.

You treat me like I'm not. Like I'm just everybody else.

And my wife just handed me something and I got to read this because you asked about specific thing. And I'm going to show you this so you can see. It's a little frame and it has $4 in it.

And this is when we were on that sprint we were on in new and not even a couple months ago. And he wrote this is 71323 Ben as one of your customers.

And he gave his name,

he left money as a donation to.

We had a fire at our and my personal house. We had a fire in our shed and it burnt down and it burnt the side of my house and blah, blah, blah.

And he found out and he left these, this $4 at the bodega for me. And it said, Benny helps me all the time. I must help him. He didn't even shop.

He just wanted you to know and have this money. And he left what he could afford was $4. So we framed it with the note that he wrote and it's now hanging up in my office as a reminder that every donation matters, every person matters, and it's just an indication of how our customers feel about the environment that we created.

Melissa: Absolutely. Again, that sense of community. People aren't just coming in to get what they need. They're obviously feeling loved and part of something really special.

Ben: Yes. And you know, to your point, you know, we're one of the few pantries and we've definitely set the bar in our community. I don't know how other pantries operate in the other parts of the country, but around here we set the standard in that we are a, a shopping choice pantry.

So most pantries, if you go, they hand you a pre made bag of things that they have.

And we didn't want to do that because I'm a picky eater and there's nothing that in that bag that I would probably eat to be 100 honest with you.

Melissa: Right.

Ben: So what we wanted to do is we wanted to create a unique experience with the empathy and Compassion from volunteers and like minded people. But we're set up like a shop, like a brick and mortar store.

So if you go to Benny's Bodega, you are literally going to a shop, a bodega in which you're treated with compassion and empathy by people who genuinely care for you and want to be there.

And we set it up like a store so you could literally go to the shelf and shop and pull stuff out of the freezer in the fridge and, and put it in your bag and shop like, how are you.

Where I would. Instead of feeling a certain type of way about being handed a bag of government food that you're probably not going to eat anyway.

So to your point, we've established community in that our volunteers feel compassion and empathy to be there. And then our customers come in and feel that sense of community and what we provide for them, we provide that unique shopping experience that allows them to be dignified and asking for help.

So our name kind of supports that. Our volunteers live it and our customers get to experience it. So it is a full circle of community coming together to help certain target populations.

And that's the other thing that's special about the bodega. A lot of pantries will help anybody at any time, which is great, don't get me wrong, because we need those types of facilities and we need those types of places.

However,

one of the things that sets us apart is that we target the ALICE population,

which stands for, it's an acronym, it stands for asset Limited Income Constrained employed,

which is a recent term that essentially means the working poor.

So we target people who are employed but are still struggling to meet your basic needs.

So you can have one or multiple jobs up here in New Jersey and still not have enough money to cover your, your living expenses. So we target people who are employed, we target senior citizens, and we target veterans.

Those are our three populations of people. Veterans. For obvious reasons, veterans should get the best care and the best service all the time.

People, I say old people 61 and above.

So I always say this and I, and I crack because I, I didn't grow up with grandparents, right. And I happen to just love old people.

So when we started this and we started, who are we going to help? Yes, we're going to target the working poor in the Alice population because you know, like I said, it's, it's tough sledding up here in New Jersey for even if you have a job.

Melissa: But then they don't always qualify for that government assistance. So they're kind of in that little. That little space that still needs help, but they're a little forgotten.

Ben: You got it. So the threshold is very low in terms of like, if you're over that threshold, then you don't qualify for any of the autonomy programs or any. Any of the social programs.

So.

And it's a very low number. I think it's gone up. Maybe it's like 25, 000, something like there. Don't quote me on that, but it's a very low number. And if you're working 40 hours or multiple jobs, you cross that threshold very quickly, which eliminates you from any social service programs.

But you still don't have what you need to take the next step forward.

Melissa: Yeah, right.

Ben: So we want to target that population of people. And then like I said, I love old people. So we wanted to make sure that people on a fixed income, which is a lot of what senior citizens are, they're on a fixed income, have the ability to stretch their income by coming to us and shopping for their basic need items.

So we want to extend their income by providing them free item or items free of charge in a warm, friendly environment. So they feel comfortable coming to us,

they feel comfortable asking for help. And ultimately that allows them to extend their monthly income and do other things with maybe grandchildren or pay a bill or, you know, or get through an emergency that they didn't see planned.

Melissa: Yeah, I think that's great. You really know the population that you're serving,

and it is special and good, but I think efficient too,

to have people come in and really get what they need.

You are taking the hard work you're doing on your end to get those donations, to have that space and to truly match the needs of those in your community,

I think is good. That's just good, good way to do service.

Ben: I appreciate that and thank you. And my wife is an efficient person, so she will definitely appreciate that compliment.

Melissa: Yes,

that's great.

Well, this has been a great conversation, Ben. I love to have each. Because we have listeners from all over.

I love to have each of my guests kind of end the show with any general advice or encouragement that you have to give. So maybe a word for those that want to get involved with helping the food insecure people in their own communities or how to get involved in support organizations like yours in doing the good that they do.

Because I think most of us have food pantries or places that we. We could be aware of and help. So what, what advice or encouragement do you want to give?

Ben: I will say this. I will Say that there is no greater feeling than helping people. And I tell people this all the time and it comes across very, I don't know how it comes across, but it's very selfish to help people because the feeling that I get and the satisfaction that I get internally matches any tiredness that comes across from helping people,

any frustration. Because when you help somebody and you're genuinely interested in their care and they're being uplifted, it's such a great feeling. And that feeling, if you can duplicate it becomes something that is just,

you can't match it, to be honest with you. And it's, and it's.

Helping people is really selfish, if that makes sense. And I would encourage people to go out and help people as much as you possibly can. Whether that's through time, whether that's through money, whether that's through volunteering, whatever that may be,

support,

go out and help somebody and you'll see the feeling that you get is almost,

it's intoxicating, it's addicting. And then you want to do it again and then you want to do it again and then you want to get your brother and your mom and this person involved and before you know it, you have four or five like minded people that are forming a team and that team has a genuine interest in helping somebody.

So I would strongly encourage somebody to take the time out and genuinely help somebody be better and to improve. And you will see that that feeling, there is no, there's no feeling on this earth that's, that's matched when you genuinely help somebody.

So please, go out, help somebody, volunteer at a pantry, volunteer somewhere, you know, help people. And you will see that that feeling is really motivating and really inspiring and allows you to be ultimately a better person and a better human and a better community member.

Melissa: Yes, you definitely get returned to you and bucket loads how much you're able to give.

Ben: So true, so true.

Melissa: Well, let's just finish off here with you sharing where everyone can find you on the web or your social media. Where can they find you if they want to learn more about Benny's Bodega.

Ben: So we have a very, very good website. It's bennysbodega.com you can email us at any time with any questions, concerns or issues or words of encouragement or advice or suggestions@bennysbodegagmail.com.

of course we're on Facebook, we're on Instagram,

I have a LinkedIn account.

So all the major social media platforms, we have not gotten to TikTok or anything else. Yet. But Facebook, IG, LinkedIn, our website,

you can search us, you can find us, you can email us, you can call, you can do whatever you want to get in touch with us. We love hearing from people.

We rely heavily on our social media presence around our way. We have a pretty good presence.

We're approaching 9,000 followers on our Facebook page, which for pantry is pretty cool.

We've only kind of been doing this for a couple years. And so we, we encourage people to follow us, to check us out. And I think if you follow us for a period of time or you check out our website, you will see that we're genuinely interested in helping our community.

We're genuine people, we're transparent, and we try to strive to be better and to create an operation that people and our community members can be proud of. So please reach out, please follow, check our website out and make sure you listen to this podcast repeatedly.

Melissa: Absolutely.

I will leave links to all of those in the show notes so they can go and find you.

And then I am a native, Utah, born and raised. So it's been an honor to talk to you from New Jersey, born and raised, and to hear all about the good that you are doing.

Thank you so much for being willing to come on the podcast.

Ben: Oh, please don't thank me. I should be thanking you.

Like I said, this is how we get our mission out. And I can't thank you enough for allowing me the opportunity to talk to you and, and be on your very successful podcast.

We appreciate you. You're now a part of the Bodega family. So thank you and we hope to be connected with you in the future. So thank you for this opportunity.

It was lovely speaking with you and we will see you soon.

Melissa: That concludes my interview with Ben Davey, the founder of Benny's Bodega.

And wasn't that a great conversation?

I just feel so honored that I get the opportunity to talk to people like Ben,

who you can feel the passion and the love for their community and the good work that they're doing. He's so sincere and everything that he does right from the beginnings of how he got started to all that he is doing today.

So if you want to learn more again about his nonprofit, about the good work he's doing with Benny's Bodega, I will have links to all their social media and their website in the show notes,

and also in the show notes, I have links to my social media.

So go ahead and give the podcast a follow either on Instagram or Facebook.

That way you will see updates whenever I drop a new episode. And you'll also see some simple tips on service and giving back and how to get involved in your community.

And as always this week, I hope that you can find a way to do something more to help lift, inspire or make a difference.