Harry Chapin Food Bank and the Coronavirus

Harry Chapin Food Bank and the Coronavirus 1200 837 Harry Chapin Food Bank

Tuesday, April 21, 2020

Volunteer Appreciation

4,108 is the number of volunteers who give of their time to Harry Chapin Food Bank throughout the year. Your food bank would not be able to serve the 28,000 people that it normally serves if we didn’t have that level of involvement from these change makers. Volunteers comprise a key ingredient in our sound financial management, and we don’t underestimate the value that they bring to our mission. Thank you change makers.

A special quality of our volunteer program is that our volunteer opportunities do not require a consistent commitment. In fact, volunteer opportunities vary from a one-time three-hour shift in our warehouse to executive level volunteerism involving 20 hours a month. By and large, our volunteers work in our warehouse sorting food, packing produce, and distributing food in our various programs. However, it is not unusual to see volunteers manning our front desk, helping with data entry, or leading volunteer orientations. The monetary value that volunteers provide your food bank exceed $1,000,000. Thank you change makers.

Since the Coronavirus pandemic began, more than 2,700 volunteers have come to our aid. That means, in the short time that this pandemic began, we have worked with nearly half the number of volunteers we see in a year. That is INCREDIBLE. These change makers have not only worked in our warehouse, they have assembled masks for us, helped in the distribution of food, brought our staff meals, written us messages of encouragement, or arranged deliveries to home-bound seniors. Some of these volunteers also have invested financially in our mission. Their service is unbounded, and we are grateful. Our ability to meet the growing demand for food is achieved with your selfless service. Thank you change makers.

Your food bank celebrates our change makers. We realize that this week is National Volunteer Appreciation week. It is our hope that you know that we are grateful for your work every day, not just this week. Thank you, thank you, thank you – for your partnership to lead our community in the fight to end hunger.

If you have an interest to join this extraordinary group of change makers, we still need volunteers to help us sort produce, build food kits, and distribute food at our drive-thru distributions. Your food bank is preparing to increase the number of food kits that we are distributing by 50%. That means that we need more of you than ever!

If you are well, able, and willing to volunteer, please sign up here.

Your steadfast volunteerism and generosity are truly inspiring. We celebrate you, today, this week and all year long! Together, we will prevail in our mission to lead our community in the fight to end hunger.

To support our feeding efforts, please click here.

If you are looking for food, please click here.