Fifteen years ago, Alice Merkl started her volunteer journey with The Salem Pantry and hasn’t stopped since. Today, Alice is a Salem City Councilor at Large, a board member for multiple local nonprofits, and one of the most engaged community members in the city. For National Volunteer Month, we sat down with her to talk about what keeps her coming back, what she’s seen change, and why she believes showing up for your neighbors is one of the most powerful things a person can do.
Alice’s connection to The Salem Pantry started simply: she could see it from her window. When she moved to downtown Salem 15 years ago, the pantry was running a once a month mobile pantry outside a church on Bridge Street, and she watched guests walk by on their way to get food.
“I was definitely drawn to that,” she says. But it wasn’t just proximity. Alice had lived through food and housing insecurity herself, and the memory of navigating what was then called food stamps with her young child stayed with her. “I’m very grateful to be in a place where I can use my time to assist other people in that situation.”
Watching The Salem Pantry Grow
Over 15 years, Alice has seen The Salem Pantry grow from a once-a-month distribution into a multi-site operation with a warehouse, a full staff, and a storefront pantry that feels like shopping at your local grocery store. But what moves her most isn’t the scale of the expansion, it’s the evolution in how the pantry serves people.
“Going from just handing out a bag of groceries to really asking: how can we do this with more dignity? That’s been the evolution. And seeing that means a lot to me, because I remember what it felt like.”
She remembers volunteering at a pop-up location at Salem State on Wednesdays, when people would slow their cars, thinking it was a farmer’s market. “And I’d be like, no, this is the pantry.” That moment stuck with her, not as a funny story, but as a sign of what was possible when you center dignity.
The Connection between Volunteering and Leading
Alice ran for City Council in Salem in her 50s, something she never expected to do. The push came partly from her volunteer work. During COVID, she found herself going to the mayor’s office on behalf of pantry guests, flagging website issues, requesting flyers, and advocating for people she knew from her shifts.
“It ended up being the perfect complement to the work I was doing,” she says. That relationship runs in both directions. Her council work is shaped by what she hears on the ground, at the pantry, at the Council on Aging, at neighborhood cleanups, and at Salem Main Streets events. “The voices of people in need aren’t always the voices we hear from. Being out there, having those organic conversations, that’s how you make responsible decisions.”
What Community Actually Means
We asked Alice why it matters for Salem residents to show up for each other, and she doesn’t reach for a policy answer. She reaches for a feeling. “I’ve lived in a lot of different cities,” she says. “The sense of community that Salem has is, from my experiences, unmatched.”
“It creates a sense that we are all neighbors. We all face similar challenges, or we know people facing them. And that’s empowering. In today’s climate, it makes me feel hopeful. It makes me feel like we got this.”
Her Advice for anyone thinking about volunteering
Alice gets asked how to get started all the time. Her answer is practical: think about your time, your transportation, your energy level, and your personality. “Not everyone wants to be interacting with the public. Some people would rather work in a warehouse. There’s room for all of that.”
She points to The Salem Pantry as a particularly flexible entry point. Volunteer opportunities go out weekly by email, with different locations and time slots, so you can sign up for what works that week without a long-term commitment. For people who want to start somewhere, it’s a great place.
Alice volunteers weekly at The Market and has supported distribution sites across the city. She serves as Salem’s City Council President and Councilor at Large, and is a longtime volunteer for the Woman’s Friend Society, Salem’s Council on Aging, and more.
She brings the same commitment everywhere she goes: showing up for her neighbors. The Salem Pantry is grateful for everything she does for our community.