What’s Going On?

So I took another trip to the San Francisco Food Bank this year and I can say that it is not dull. Every time that I’ve been at the food bank there is always something different to do, never have I done the same thing twice. As stated in a previous post which can be read here, the SF Food Bank is located in Potrero Hill. The food bank is housed inside of a very nice contemporary warehouse where canned, dry food, fresh produce, and frozen foods are stored. According to the food bank about 133,000 people are fed through various programs throughout the city. Mostly funded through contributions from corporations, the food bank also takes public and private donations as well.

On this trip to the food bank, I volunteered with a couple of my friends who were with The Children’s Place. I had volunteered with them before on my last visit to the bank. The tasks that we were asked to do on this visit were to separate out bad tomatoes from the good tomatoes. Some of the bad tomatoes were rotten, bruised, molded, and pierced. A majority of the tomatoes were not ripe yet and almost resembled apples in terms of color and firmness. Some tomatoes were already ripe and ready to eat. While sorting through the tomatoes we then boxed up the good tomatoes and stack them on a pallet.

Once all of the volunteers finished seperating and packaging the tomatoes, we moved onto a different room to package out oatmeal. In another room we weighed out oatmeal in one pound bags and then sealed and labeled the bags. We shipped out 24 bags to one box and stacked them too onto a pallet. As everything was being accomplished in a timely manner, the time for volunteers to end all tasks eventually came to an end. As volunteers worked, the time passed very quickly through conversations and listening to music. Some groups wanted to keep on working. To some volunteers, including myself, there seems to be some sort of accomplishment when trying to compete with each other to see who can package out the most items. In some way it is like a game and whoever achieves more wins. In the end we are all winners, but I think if there was no set time to leave a few would continue to stay and work.

If you are interested in helping the food bank, there are many opportunities that you can be a part of. Volunteer days are seven days a week during the daytime and evenings are Tuesday through Thursday only. Specific times to volunteer is located on their web-page. Bring a group if you can, they can accommodate groups of up to 80 people. If you cannot bring a group, you can come individually as well. Being able to volunteer at the San Francisco Food Bank is just a wonderful experience and I encourage you all to take part in giving back to the community and help and serve those that need us.