Fighting hunger requires a community-wide effort.
Food is the first key ingredient. Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida gets much of its food from grocery industry partners. Through its Retail Rescue program, stores like Walmart and Sam's Club donate millions of pounds of fresh produce, dairy products, baked goods, frozen meat and nonperishable items each year.
Volunteers help collect, sort and distribute these donations.
Thanks to a generous community, Second Harvest can fuel its trucks and deliver food across seven counties. One way people help is by supporting the annual Fight Hunger. Spark Change. campaign. Shoppers can donate in stores or online or support the campaign by purchasing select products at Walmart and Sam’s Club to help neighbors who are facing hunger.
“Once the food gets back to our warehouse, our volunteers go through the meat donations, baked goods, non-perishables, dairy products – wonderful donations that come from these locations,” explained Mindy Ortiz, Director of Volunteer Services. “They help us check expiration dates. They help us put things into categories. We want to make sure that all the food that goes out into the community is the best food that our neighbors facing hunger can get each day.”
Mindy explained that without volunteers, Second Harvest could not sort and distribute food as quickly or on such a large scale. The food bank would have to hire 61 more full-time staff members to do what volunteers accomplish.
“Volunteers are important to our mission,” she said. “They’re crucial. We could not do what we do without their support to ensure that all these awesome donations from Walmart and Sam’s Club get out into the community.”
Lynn and Sherry are two volunteers who help fight hunger by sorting donated proteins several times a week.
“We sort them according to categories, like red meat, poultry and pork,” Lynn explained. “Our partners in the community can distribute them after we inspect the meat.”
As Volunteer Captains, Lynn and Sherry help new volunteers with sorting donated food, answer questions about the process, and assist staff in coordinating the workflow to keep sorting efficient and organized.
“And at the end of the shift (a screen in the meat-sorting room) will show you how many pounds we’ve done and how many actual people it will feed,” Sherry said.
She said volunteering is important because it helps feed neighbors who are struggling with food insecurity. In a typical shift, volunteers sort about 45,000 pounds of food, enough for 37,000 meals for local kids, families and seniors.
“That to me is a huge thing,” Sherry said. “At the end of the day, when I leave, I feel good because I have done that for my community.”
Lynn said it is meaningful to help save thousands of pounds of food from being thrown away each shift and to get it to people who need it. “This could be stuff that would just go in the trash,” she explained. “It’s perfectly good food that we’re able to take and keep it safe.”
All these efforts work together. Thanks to food donations from Walmart and Sam’s Club, volunteers, and everyone who supports the Fight Hunger. Spark Change. campaign, more neighbors have the food they need to thrive.
