A volunteer packs food boxes at a contactless, drive-thru Mobile Market. Mobile Markets have become essential to our mission during the pandemic, and our volunteers help make them possible.
More than a year ago, everything changed. Our Operations Team recruited the entire staff to pack hundreds of emergency food boxes. The next day, we held the Food Bank’s first drive-thru, no-contact Mobile Market. We had no idea that by the end of 2020, we would distribute more than 2.7 million meals this way — or that a year later, it would still be the safest way to serve families in need.
Contactless, drive-thru Mobile Markets have become essential to our mission during the pandemic, and volunteers are essential to making Mobile Markets run. When we pivoted from regular food distribution methods to keep neighbors safe, our volunteers were there to pack boxes, bag produce, and place it all in the trunks of families in need.
Volunteers like Angelica, who has this to share: “My 4 hours of volunteer time may not mean much by themselves, but when they are combined with 4 hours from so many other people at a Mobile Market, and when that Mobile Market is 4 times a month, that makes a difference to the people of our community.”
It’s not just at Mobile Markets that volunteers have made an incredible difference over the past year. With volunteer opportunities limited to keep our community safe, our volunteers still pitched in and packed a punch.
They wrote thousands of notes of hope that were placed in food boxes for local families. They served meals at The Master’s Table Soup Kitchen. They collected thousands of pounds of food during our record-breaking It’s Spooky to Be Hungry® campaign. They planted, weeded, composted, and harvested at The Master’s Table Soup Kitchen’s Urban Farm.
Dennis, a longtime volunteer who’s helped in many ways from serving soup kitchen meals at The Master’s Table to packing food boxes for Mobile Markets, shares: “I can think of no better way to give back to my community. Our community is stronger when we all pitch in together.”
A big thank you to all of the volunteers who have come alongside us to feed families during this year of challenge and change. You’ve provided countless moments of hope during a time when so many were struggling.
