April is more than just springtime—it's Volunteer Appreciation Month! This is the perfect time to recognize and celebrate our dedicated volunteers who selflessly give their time and energy to support our community. I’m going to share a little bit about volunteering in our food pantry and introduce you to Tammy & Steve who have been volunteering with us for a couple of years.
HCCM is open 5 days a week, Monday through Friday. We have a morning shift (9 am–noon), afternoon shift (1-3 pm), and on Thursdays only, we have 2 additional shifts (3-5 pm, 5-7 pm). We rely on 6-8 volunteers for every shift. Many volunteers work multiple shifts per week. The pantry volunteers do a variety of tasks. Their priority is serving our clients by filling their pantry orders. Our clients come in on an appointment basis so that we can take the time to help each family individually and specifically. They are given a preference sheet where they can identify items they may or may not want or need from our master list. Then our volunteers will collect and bag each order. The clients are given many choices, such as types of cereals, produce, meats, etc. They are also able to choose breads and pastries that they prefer. Hygiene products and cleaning supplies are usually available as well.
The morning crews also help to receive the retail donations that come in every morning and prepare those for distribution in the pantry and Community Cupboard. Sometimes produce will need to be sorted for quality control. Decisions will be made to determine where donations will go – whether to the pantry clients or the cupboard customers.
Volunteers have many tasks to keep them busy in between clients, too! They will work on stocking shelves, and refilling bread, pastry and produce supplies. They also will fill bottles of detergent and dish soap for distribution.
One couple who are faithful food pantry volunteers is Steve and Tammy Knutson. They have been volunteering at HCCM for almost 2 years and work 2 shifts per week. Steve and Tammy have been married for almost 44 years, are retired, and enjoy traveling around the world! When they are not volunteering, they enjoy gardening, knitting (Tammy), coaching their granddaughter’s lacrosse team (Steve), and are avid Texas Stars hockey fans!!
What they say about volunteering at HCCM
Volunteering at HCCM Food Bank gets us out of the house and gives us a chance to enjoy working with our “second family” of volunteers and staff, to provide food and personal items to families in need. We feel it really makes a difference for people, and when someone thanks us for all we are doing for them, it feels extra good! We have had people ask us if they could hug us, boy does that move our hearts!
Though most of our pantry shifts are filled with regular volunteers, there are a few shifts that could use another person or two. Volunteers are able to choose a regular recurring shift (weekly), or they can simply choose shifts as they are available.
If you are looking for a volunteer position that would allow you to help for a couple hours in the morning once a week, please complete a volunteer application here: https://www.volgistics.com/appform/809266279 or reach out to Kandy Chimento at [email protected].
