Regional Food Bank Observation
The place where I conducted my community service was the Regional Food Bank. The Regional Food Bank receives large quantities of foods, drinks, and other necessities from suppliers throughout the northeast, such as Hannaford or Wal-Mart. Then, at the Regional Food Bank, all of the goods that came in get checked to make sure they aren't expired or have ripped packaging, which means that they can get sorted into boxes to be sent off to families in need or to homeless shelters. The Food Bank provides over 30 million pounds a year of food to 1000 different agencies. Each box at the Food Bank can only weigh 45lbs, so that means that around 660,000 boxes of food are sent. Furthermore, what also makes this so amazing is that the Food Bank is a non-profit
…show more content…
The first time I went all I did was tape and form boxes for food to be stored in. It didn't seem like an important job, but without the boxes there's nothing to put the food in, and ship it off in, so without the boxes, the job is impossible. The next time I went I sorted the goods. There are very specific rules there because the people and families receiving the food need to know exactly what they are getting. I mainly dealt with sorting the meat and packaging that up to send out. After the boxes were filled, I had to weigh it to make sure it was somewhere between 43-45lbs, and then close the box to ship it. The third time I went to the food bank, I helped take the food and drinks out of the boxes that they came in from the manufacturers. I had to decide whether or not it was good quality, I had to check the expiration date, and I had to make sure the packaging was sealed. The hardest part of these tasks was when I first started to do them. It took a couple minutes to get the routine down, but once I did, it became repetitive and pretty easy. Since the work is very repetitive, it can become very boring, very fast. However, I knew this so I made sure I went with a friend, and I realized that volunteer work can be fun if you do it with people you know. Also, I made a game out of it to see who could sort the most goods/tape the most
The first time I went all I did was tape and form boxes for food to be stored in. It didn't seem like an important job, but without the boxes there's nothing to put the food in, and ship it off in, so without the boxes, the job is impossible. The next time I went I sorted the goods. There are very specific rules there because the people and families receiving the food need to know exactly what they are getting. I mainly dealt with sorting the meat and packaging that up to send out. After the boxes were filled, I had to weigh it to make sure it was somewhere between 43-45lbs, and then close the box to ship it. The third time I went to the food bank, I helped take the food and drinks out of the boxes that they came in from the manufacturers. I had to decide whether or not it was good quality, I had to check the expiration date, and I had to make sure the packaging was sealed. The hardest part of these tasks was when I first started to do them. It took a couple minutes to get the routine down, but once I did, it became repetitive and pretty easy. Since the work is very repetitive, it can become very boring, very fast. However, I knew this so I made sure I went with a friend, and I realized that volunteer work can be fun if you do it with people you know. Also, I made a game out of it to see who could sort the most goods/tape the most