A Day in the Life: Volunteering at United Food Bank
Looking to volunteer but nervous about what the experience entails? Maybe you’re all signed up and wondering what to expect. Read on for a typical shift at one of the best places to volunteer in the East Valley, United Food Bank!
“Everyone had a great time… everything was well organized and put together,” says Liz from Gem Academy Nutrition, who coordinated her cohort of students to volunteer. She also appreciated the accessibility of the experience, with everyone able to participate in various ways, regardless of ability. United Food Bank offers exciting and energetic two hour volunteer shifts building emergency food bags or sorting food drive donations every weekday and some Saturdays. You can find a selection of hours ranging mornings, afternoons and evenings. With an assembly line set up, the shifts are always organized and easy to follow, not to mention incredibly inclusive. Volunteers can even be as young as five years old!
One shift begins at 9AM with this particular one having a total of 46 volunteers, both groups and individuals eager to help their community. Among them, members from ArchWell Health and a cohort from Gem Academy experience got excited for their first time volunteering at United Food Bank. As everyone started to trickle in, the energy was lively with music and mingling as everyone got acquainted with each other. Once everyone was signed in, orientation began with a welcome video from CEO Jason Reed. Jahayra, United Food Bank’s Volunteer Coordinator, explains the task for the day and assigns each person roles packing emergency food bags to distribute to partner agencies. While a good portion of the group volunteers often and knows their way around, newcomers are easily oriented to the process; grab a bag, walk around grabbing
each food item, then hand it over to the packers. The music continued to play as everyone rotated around the warehouse, dancing and chatting as they filled bags and bins. A volunteer leader rang a bell every time they accomplished filing up an entire bin, filling the warehouse with cheers!
Each bin receives 85 bags, and with 12 bins to fill in a single session their high energy group has prepared over 1000 bags in less than an hour! One emergency food bag helps feed a family of 4 for about a week, in addition to fresh produce provided at distribution agencies. After all bins are filled to capacity, the group takes a quick water break before taking the time to set up for the next group of volunteers. United Food Bank takes pride in being able to help provide over 50,000 meals daily to the community, and aims to inspire new volunteers to take part in this continual effort. “I want to come back and bring my family,” mentions Lorel from ArchWell Health after wrapping up her first experience. After thank yous and congratulations from our Volunteer Coordinator our morning volunteer shift at United Food Bank wraps up!
For more fun volunteer opportunities at United Food Bank, check out https://www.unitedfoodbank.org/volunteer/.
Written by KC Raguay
