I am interning at a local food bank.  This organization doesn’t directly distribute food to the homeless, instead they  collect food donations from a variety of sources and distributes the items to local charities. The charities they are associated with are the ones who get the food into the hands of those who need it.  This organization was established in the 1980’s.

The food items that are donated come from the local community. They also highlight the fact that they have access to nationally donated food (for example, manufacturers such as Kraft of Kellogg’s items). Most of the items are things that cannot be sold. Some examples of reasons why an item cannot be sold includes dented cans, ripped packaging, or mislabeled products.  Grocery stores and farmers  donate their surplus items as well as those that are nearing their expiration. Even though they cannot be sold by retailers, all of the products are still safe for consumption.

Preparing the product is the main activity volunteers assist with. There is a vague assembly line type set up. There are people who sort the product, people who tape up the final boxes and people who transfer the final boxes to the pallets. The organization has different categories for their products.Food is packed according to different categories which include snacks, complete meals, fresh produce, condiments, cereal, meat/dairy, and other.  While packing boxes, it’s important to keep in mind that it must meet a certain weight requirement.  The required weight is dependent on which category the box falls under. It’s also important that the boxes have a variety of food items in them. They want to avoid situations where ,for example, an organization gets multiple 19 pound boxes full of chocolate bars.

While I didn’t sort any products that fall into the ‘other’ category, sometimes they do receive items that are not food. There were toiletries and Nair products being unloaded at one point. One of the staff members told me Target donated about a dozen bicycles a few days before.

The staff are the one who keep the floor organized and productive. Since most of the time there is at least one new volunteer, they help get people get familiar with the process. While talking with the staff, there is a pattern of short employment with the organization and revolving staff members. People don’t stay as staff for too long, the majority had been there for a few months. There are also staff in the offices that handle communication and paperwork side of the organization.  This organization seems to attract an array of age groups for volunteers.  You have to be at least 18 years old to volunteer but other than that, there are no other requirements. The influx of volunteers are heavily relied on as they have low numbers of staff.