As National Volunteer Month comes to a close, we’re reflecting on not only the volunteers who joined us this month, but also the volunteers who have made our work possible over the last 30 years. Annually, more than 16,000 volunteers help us transform wasted food into balanced meals for our community.
Some volunteers travel from across the United States for one shift and some local DC residents schedule recurring shifts, including our “Heavy Hitters” or our friends from the Hindu American Community Service, Inc. who have been volunteering every month since 2004. Some join us on school or company trips, others come on their own. Some are from DC’s local restaurants and others have never been in a commercial kitchen. What binds them together is a common belief in our values that waste is wrong – whether that waste is perfectly nutritious food or productive minds. Our volunteers are committed to helping us break the cycle of hunger and poverty for good.
From presidents, including President Clinton and President Obama, to celebrity chefs, members of Congress and professional sports teams, we’ve been fortunate to welcome many notable volunteers join us in the kitchen.
Our dedicated volunteers helps us make sure that we never close our doors – during winter storm Jonas in 2016 when our normal snow removal team suffered a broken down plow, volunteers jumped in and helped us shovel the driveway to make sure that we could deliver our meals on time. When the 2017 inauguration resulted in all of the roads around our Main Kitchen being shut down, volunteers helped prep double the number of daily meals ahead of time to ensure that we wouldn’t have to skip a day.
Thank you to all the thousands of volunteers who have donated their time and skills to us over the last 30 years. We wouldn’t be able to do the work we do without their continuous commitment to making our community a better place.
Interested in volunteering? Register here.
