It’s April, which means it’s that time of year when we like to give our volunteers a little extra love in honor of Volunteer Appreciation Month!
Needless to say, volunteers are essential to the work we do at Foodlink. From sorting donated food in our distribution center, to assisting with programs that address the root causes of hunger, volunteers serve many impactful roles in our organization.
In the weeks ahead, we’ll use the space on this blog to share interesting statistics and introduce you to a few of our loyal volunteers who donate their time in support our mission! For example, did you know that 24 volunteers each donated more than 100 hours of their time to Foodlink last year! We gave them a special shoutout in the graphic above! They have been essential contributors to our COVID-19 response, and we’re grateful to have them on our team!
Check out the video below that our staff created to show its gratitude for ALL of the time our volunteers gave us during a challenging year.
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Wednesday, April 7
Volunteer Stat of the Week: The 100+ Club!
Check out the graphic above for the representation of the 24 volunteers who have donated more than 100 hours of their time to Foodlink in the past year. Thank you for your service to this community!
They are ‘essential workers’ for us during our ongoing COVID response and help make our work possible!
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Friday, April 9
Volunteer Spotlight: Bonnie & Chuck
Bonnie and Chuck are two of our regular volunteers who have logged hundreds of hours for Foodlink in the past year (if you look close enough, you’ll see their names in the graphic above!).
They said they appreciate the feeling of accomplishment that comes with every completed shift — and contributing to a worthy cause.
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Wednesday, April 14
Volunteer Stat of the week: Helping out on the farm …
Foodlink volunteers are mainly seen in our distribution center, sorting through mountains of banana boxes of donated food that will eventually make their way to hundreds of food pantries and meal programs in the Rochester area. Some volunteers, however, help Foodlink maintain the largest urban agriculture site in the city … the Lexington Ave. Community Farm!
They help “open” and “close” the farm each growing season, and in between, they do everything from weeding, composting, harvesting, building and everything that helps our garden grow!
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Friday, April 16
Volunteer Spotlight: Nancy Daley, Mary Lee Miller & Nancy Klein
The Lexington Avenue Community Farm relies on volunteer support to help tend to the 1.3-acre plot of land that serves as Rochester’s largest and most productive urban agriculture site. In fact, our volunteers even help out before the growing season begins! Not too long ago, we caught up with Nancy Daley, Mary Lee Miller and Nancy Klein, who were helping with our collard green seedling trays on a Tuesday afternoon.
“Volunteering at the farm makes me feel good because I know I’m doing something to help the Rochester community,” Mary Lee said. “I get to play in dirt, be in the sunshine and we have our own little farm family, so it’s really pleasant to go work with people I know, doing something good.”
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Wednesday, April 21
Volunteer Stat of the Week: Did you know volunteers have helped us load boxes of food into more than 9,000 vehicles at Foodlink since the fall? Thank you all for donating your time, talents and generosity to help support our mission!
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Friday, April 23
Volunteer Spotlight: Greg, Terry, Rick, Eleanor and Rosemarie
Rain or shine (or sleet or snow), our volunteers have played an enormous role in our weekly distributions on Friday afternoons at Foodlink. Some like it so much they come back week after week! Meet Greg, Terry, Rick, Eleanor and Rosemarie! We snapped their photo after a particularly rainy and cold distribution on April 16. They were still smiling (under their masks) despite volunteering for 3 hours in tough conditions!
Greg told us: “It’s a great thing to do — especially during these times with people in need. It’s a simple thing to do and we love working with Foodlink’s staff. We’ve all met some great people and made friends out here, so it’s a win-win-win. The people (we serve) are very friendly and appreciative … it makes it more real, knowing who we’re helping.”
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