Every Saturday, the Capital Area Food Bank hosts over 100 (sometimes over 200!) volunteers to sort and pack food in our DC warehouse. Volunteering at the food bank is a hands on and rewarding experience, which is why over 12,000 people volunteer with us each year. Our volunteers are an essential part of our operations, and save us hundreds of thousands of dollars each year.
The Volunteer Programs department is always looking for new ways to create more opportunities for volunteers and improve the volunteer experience. This is why we created our Weekend Leader program this spring. Weekend Leaders are trained volunteers that come out to the food bank one Saturday each month to help lead volunteer groups.
This program launched in March, and we have brought on five volunteers to serve as Weekend Leaders. The Weekend Leaders role is to serve alongside a staff member to lead orientations, direct volunteers, and help with overall logistics. These individuals get a behind-the-scenes view of our department, and get to help us on our busiest day of the week.
So far, having the Weekend Leaders has allowed us to increase productivity on the weekends and streamline the volunteer process. What’s even more exciting is that our Weekend Leaders have enjoyed their experiences so much, they have all signed up to come out for a 2nd, 3rd or even 4th time! Below is a picture of Chi Pang Cheung, one of our first Weekend Leaders who has been out to help three times over the last two months.
We are currently seeking more Weekend Leaders to help us with our Saturday volunteers. Its very easy to get involved – just visit our Ambassador Volunteer website to read the full job description. The next step is filling out the Ambassador Volunteer application, and then a member of the Volunteer Programs team will call you to set everything up. We hope to see you out in our warehouse soon!