Susie Takayoshi, our Warehouse Logistics Manager, gets to work before most people are even awake. At around 4:45 am every weekday morning, she makes coffee for the Food Bank drivers and makes sure all their keys and routes are in order. When it rains, she even makes sure the drivers have warm rain gear.

“It’s not hard getting up for work,” she says, “because I believe in our mission, I enjoy the people here and I know we are all working for the same thing.”

Much of Susie’s job is to expect the unexpected and to help her team deal with inevitable last-minute changes of plan. “We have to be willing to shuffle and shift things around over here,” Susie says. “But honestly, I really like when accomplishing the day’s work involves a challenge.”

Susie, mother of three, carries her nurturing side with her to work. One Christmas Eve, she came in early (yes, even earlier than usual) to set up a Christmas tree at the warehouse. She also put out hot coffee, juice, homemade cookies and other treats for her team. “I just wanted them to know we appreciate them working so hard around the holidays.”

Susie says her passion for service and her commitment to hard work are inspired by her father. “He taught me that it doesn’t matter how much you have,” she said. “You just have to respect people and treat them they you want to be treated.”

In her free time, Susie enjoys doing yard work. Sometimes she even does her neighbor’s yard work! On the weekends she spends time supporting her youngest son by going to all of his baseball games. He will graduate in a couple months. Her oldest son and her daughter both graduated college and are living in Arizona.

It’s people like Susie who make the Food Bank such a special place to work. She has been part of the Food Bank team and family since March 12, 2015.