Kudos for donating your time and effort to such a crucial cause – it really makes you think about just how many people are in need, all over the world (not just in a local area).

I volunteer at my local animal protective league, and find it to be incredibly rewarding.

Your meals and snacks are always so healthy! I wish I was that consistent with healthy meals.

Great job volunteering!

Sounds like you had a fantastic morning!!! I giggled when you said that kids scare you! 🙂 By the sounds of it, you were a hit! My daughter and I have worked at our local food bank in the past and it is an eye opener for sure! Where I live big paper bags are sent out with the mail 4 times a year urging people to fill them up with not just food, but toiltries as well. There are many drop off locations. I make sure to fill every bag I get up plus we donate throughout the year. I’m glad it was a good experience for you!

Wow, that is so great of you to have done that, and to talk to the kids about what would be good for their families to donate. My parents donated their girl scout cookies to the local homeless shelter and I complained that they should be donating healthy food, not junk food (though delicious!) that they don’t want to eat themselves!

Honestly, you taking part in this makes me think I should volunteer at my local branch of Manna Food bank, I’m sure they could use the help.

I think donating blood is one of the easiest ways to give back. Just like food banks, there is always a shortage of blood for transfusions – so take that hour and go save three lives with a blood donation!

I donate to my church’s food bank every week with HEALTHY food!

Thanks for volunteering! Every time we grocery shop we grab a couple cans of veggies/fruit and toss them in the donation box by the door. Its not much but we’re helping a little, I guess.

Awesome post- thanks for sharing! I organize a project that does workshops on STIs for the homeless. We try to keep our snacks healthy like soft granola bars, unsweetened apple sauce and tuna and crackers.

We will be pairing with a grassroots organization for our next workshop which doesn’t allow any processsed food to be given as they feel strongly that just because people are homeless or low income, doesn’t mean they shouldn’t be offered a healthy choice. We will likely be preparing smoothies and hummus and pitas with them. I am really excited!

By the way, kids scare me too : )

Great job on the volunteering! It is always so sad that people have to go hungry, and then when they get food it has little nutritional value.

I work for a non-profit so hopefully that counts towards my community service! 🙂

woot woot! Your Artical is UP:)
http://nhershoes.blogspot.com/2009/03/her-march-featured-foodie-fridge.html

That’s great that you donated your time and are getting the word out about a program that needs support! I had never thought to volunteer time at a food bank, I will definitly look into it now.

You probably saw this article in Time a few summers ago, but it’s pretty interesting.

http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519,00.html

Thanks for bringing up the fact that while food does get donated (although not NEARLY enough!) it’s rarely healthy.

I work in a soup kitchen when I’m home every weekend… almost everything is home made and we provide a balanced, thanks to grocery stores and chain stores (like Starbucks) that donate their excess.

Good on you for 1. vol 2. talking to the kids about healthy donation 3. raising it in your blog. It’s a huge issue and so much research and stats prove that you can correlate poverty with obesity. It’s disgusting that out nations poorest and most needy are the ones who usually eat the worst, for a host of reasons.

I am thinking about visiting a friend who’s running a clinic and school in Timor for 2 weeks in July. Foreign work is what gets me most excited.

M

That’s so awesome of you to give of your time like that. I used to volunteer at Children’s Hospital in Boston – I was always on the baby floor! I loved holding them and pushing them around in their strollers. So cute! 🙂 It was nice to be able to be there with them, keep them company while they were away from home.

i agree, it’s very disheartening to see how unhealthy the food is that is donated. obviously it’s better than nothing, but it’s a sad reflection on how poorly our society eats, cause that processed crap is what’s in 80% of the average grocery store. my mom saw on a cnn news report that food banks were asking for more donations and the top foods they requested were JELLO and MEAT. seriously? jello?

I read a really interesting paper on the situation of food banks here in Ontario. It was amazing how quickly the economic crisis caused so many more people to have to rely on food banks. And because of the economic crisis, companies that used to donate food cannot afford to anymore. It’s a vicious cycle.

Great post Caitlin!