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Tis the season for gatherings! Are you looking for an opportunity to get together with colleagues, friends, relatives, or neighbors for a meaningful cause?
Hunger relief programs throughout Washington are in dire need of volunteers with various skills and abilities to help with food distribution tasks. Several organizations have teamed up on a campaign called Back to Action in hopes of recruiting 3,000 volunteers to help food banks before the end of the year.
“The ongoing effects of the pandemic have created a crisis of food insecurity across the state,” said Josette Gonzales, volunteer program manager at Northwest Harvest, which supports a statewide network of more than 400 food banks. Many of them are struggling for volunteers to help with distribution efforts so perishable foods won’t go to waste.
Among the ways volunteers can help are:
- Sorting and stocking food
- Translation services
- Welcoming and assisting guests
- IT and software assistance
- Picking up and delivering food donations
- Bookkeeping & accounting services
- Backroom organization
- Nutrition labeling & sorting
- Hosting food drives
- Social media
- Photography & Graphic Design
- Cleaning and sanitation
- Painting and interior design
- Website design
- Board member
You can volunteer for a day of service (or multiple days) by signing up online. Your information will be securely stored. The Northwest Harvest team will connect you with a food bank or hunger relief organization in your community.
Northwest Harvest was created in 1967 when Seattle community leaders formed a social justice organization committed to addressing hunger and became a statewide agency in 2010. It provides an average of 2 million meals each month through its network of food banks, meal programs, schools and community-based organizations.
Joining Northwest Harvest on the Back to Action campaign are the Washington Food Coalition, KING5, Safeway, Seattle Seahawks, and Vault89 Strategies.