This week is National Volunteer Week, and all of us at Second Harvest Heartland extend our sincere sincere thanks to all of our fantastic volunteers who have donated time and energy in support of our mission.

Without our volunteers, we simply could not operate as we do. More than 48,000 hours were logged in 2009 by more than 7,000 different individuals. Our volunteers are part of a movement that is helping provide more meals to more of our hungry neighbors each and every day.

As a gesture of thanks, we put together a few fun facts and quotes from Second Harvest Heartland staff about our volunteers and their efforts over the past year. Click here to get the full story!

If you’ve volunteered with Second Harvest Heartland in the past–thank you! If you’d like to learn more about how you can get involved, simply stay tuned to our website for upcoming opportunities.

Yesterday, we received an email from Andrew Blake, volunteer coordinator at Totino-Grace High School, who came to Irish Mountain Orchard this past weekend and volunteered with his wife and some students. “We found out about the opportunity in an e-newsletter from Second Harvest, and our school is always looking for new service opportunities,” Andrew said. “This was a homecoming service project for us, so my students were up the night before until probably 1:00 am coming home from the school dance or somebody’s house after the football game. We came from Fridley, MN so I had them come to school at 6:45 in the morning. Needless to say, they didn’t get a lot of rest the night before!”

Every year in Minnesota alone, an estimated 224 million pounds of unused food goes to waste. It’s the goal of Second Harvest Heartland and participating Minnesota Orchards to glean as many nutritious apples as possible before the winter freeze, and deliver them to the hungry families, children and seniors who need them most. With the dedication of volunteers like Andrew and his students, we hope to collect even more fresh apples from Minnesota orchards than we did last year–more than 200,000 pounds.

“As we were making the collection boxes, we couldn’t believe we would need that many. Of course once we started collecting apples, the group working boxes could hardly keep them coming fast enough,” Andrew continued. “I think one of my favorite parts of the whole thing was knowing that each apple would get to a family. For awhile, with each apple I picked I tried to imagine a kid who would get that apple at home or at school in their lunch. I even tried to say a small blessing over each one until I realized it was slowing me down as so I stopped praying and started picking faster!”

All of us at Second Harvest Heartland extend a hearfelt “thanks” to the students at Totino-Grace and all other volunteers who have helped with the apple gleaning initiative this fall. Your efforts are incredibly important, and we couldn’t do this work without your help.

Know that families, children and seniors in our community are enjoying the “fruits of your labor”–literally–and giving thanks for your generosity and hard work.

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If you would like to learn more about how you can get involved with the volunteer program at Second Harvest Heartland, please click here. Simply fill out the short form, and someone will get back to you!
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It was fun to feel good while doing good! Our team members were all ‘workers’ – no one slacked off and everyone seemed to work up a bit of a sweat. Our staff coordinator told us we didn’t need to ‘kill ourselves’ and yet none of the Bremer folks turned off their ‘Taking Action’ mentality as they packed the 700 boxes in just under three hours.

Learned some interesting facts – one in 10 seniors lives in poverty in the U.S. These are people who probably worked hard their whole lives and now find themselves struggling just to feed themselves – there’s something wrong with that formula. Also found out that if you mix powdered milk with condensed milk you end up with 2% milk!

As volunteer opportunities go, this one was great. We all felt like we were making a significant contribution and that contribution would directly impact – and hopefully improve – the lives of some of our neighbors.

Teresa Morrow
SVP, Bremer Banks

Choosing a charity was an easy task for me. Growing up my father worked for many years at a Downtown Minneapolis food shelf. Through his work there I was able to see first hand the impact that local food shelves, and food banks like Second Harvest Heartland, can have on a community. Not only are they able to feed people who are hungry and in need, but they’re able to give hope to the those in need when they’re going through tough times.

A friend of mine worked at Second Harvest Heartland, and through him I knew of the good work that they were doing. After doing some research on the Second Harvest website I found that for each $1 donated, they are able to distribute more than $9 worth of groceries to those in need. In addition, 96% of each dollar of revenue goes directly to the programs, so I knew my donation would be put to good use. Second Harvest’s mission was one I wanted to support, so I chose them as my charity.

Since I was competing with 64 other very good bloggers, I wasn’t expecting to make it very far. To my surprise, after four rounds of voting I was still standing and on my way to the final four. Because I had made it to the finals, I knew that I would at least be able to make a $100 donation to Second Harvest, which was exciting. Then after winning a hard-fought semi-final matchup, I moved on to a the championship round where the winner would receive a $500 donation to their charity. And after several days of roller coaster voting, I was able to pull out a victory by a tiniest of margins, two votes. With those two votes it was ensured that Second Harvest Heartland would receive a $500 donation to help feed families in need.

The $500 donation we were able to make through this contest may not seem like much, but with Second Harvest Heartland’s help that $500 will help distribute more than $4500 worth of groceries. Our small donation will make a huge impact!

My desire is that others will be inspired by this small victory and be moved to donate as well. You may not feel like you’re giving very much, but every little bit helps! Your $5 donation will provide 20 meals to the hungry! That’s an amazing impact from such a small donation. If you’re thinking about donating today, just do it, you’ll receive far more in return than you’ll ever give.

Peter Anderson
www.biblemoneymatters.com

On Friday, at the request of the Emergency Response Team, we sent a truck filled with 30,000 pounds of bottled water and granola bars to the Fargo area for volunteers working on the ground there. And this past Monday, we filled a semi-trailer with approximately 30,000 pounds of ready-to-eat food items for victims of the flood. Our ability to respond to this immediate request for food is due to the fact that we are part of an emergency relief system that is at-the-ready to respond when crises strike. In addition, we thank you – our dedicated supporters – for providing the support it takes to allow us to help out our neighbors in such a crisis.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all of those who are facing the devastation of flooding in Fargo and Moorhead and all of those who are doing what they can to help.

Check out the image slideshow below, or view the set on Flickr.

(Thanks to Kent Flemmer Photography for the photos.)

I worked the front door as a greeter, directing people to the check in area and the coat check. From my location I was able to help hundreds of people find their way, and to check out their outfits.  Being Minnesota, attire ranged from jeans and tee shirts to full length dresses and suits, but everyone looked beautiful.

The first hour and a half of my shift was crazy busy.  The lobby was completely packed 15 minutes before doors opened and continued that way for 45 minutes.  Even with the logistical oversight of not having a bathroom on the floor, people remained friendly and excited for the evening.

The best part of my night came after the rush.  With a few hours left on my shift, I was given a 30 minute break to enjoy the party.  All of the volunteers were allowed to go upstairs and enjoy the food and drink.  I had some wonderful dishes including oysters on the half shell from Barbette and rack of lamb from Seven, my two favorite foods.

The Best of the Best was a super fun event to volunteer for.  I met some great people, including my fellow volunteers and got to try some great food.  I will definitely be doing this again next year!

- Kassie Church

But don’t wait – you can join the fight to end hunger in your community today by visiting www.10000strong.org. Be part of a movement – be one of 10,000 Minnesotans uniting against hunger in Minnesota.

Visit www.10000strong.org now to learn what you can do to help!

Don’t forget to join the dialogue and tell us what you plan to do on MLK Day and beyond to fight hunger in our community.

Together, we can end hunger. Are you one of 10,000?

For the past three years, Second Harvest Heartland has been chosen as the beneficiary of these volunteer hours. Two years ago, Michael and his group of 10 friends and family members helped pack food boxes. Last year, they helped us write hand written thank you notes to first time donors. And last Sunday, Michael and his group helped us collect food and monetary donations at the Vikings game.

As if his generosity wasn’t inspiring enough, Michael always makes sure to take his family members and friends to dinner after every volunteer event, as a “thank you” for their time and support.

Last year, volunteers of Second Harvest Heartland gave enough of their time to equal that of 25 full-time employees. Volunteers like Michael make a tremendous impact on hundreds of thousands of lives, and we sincerely thank them for their ongoing support.