One of the things that allows Second Harvest to for over 650,000 meals every month is our regular volunteers, who keep us running smoothly and efficiently.
These volunteers include Jeanne Manship, a then-recent retiree who started volunteering with us in 2016, and has kept at it ever since. “I stick around for the exercise, because I like the people, and because it helps the community.” In fact, during the months at the start of the pandemic when we were absolutely shut down for all volunteers, she was the only one who was allowed in, as she was such a staple of Second Harvest. When volunteers stick around, they become autonomous very quickly. We can rely on Jeanne to come in just often enough to compact all the cardboard waste our work generates so it can be recycled, along with other maintenance tasks that allow us to run smoothly.
Jeanne is one of a core group of retired volunteers who join us every Thursday Morning, along with Becky, John, Paul, Peggy, Ida, Cathy, and Wayne. Collectively, since they started volunteering, they’ve given over 3,800 hours to us – it’s impossible to say how much time Jeann’s given us, because she’s been volunteering longer than our records go back! Having reliable volunteers like this makes it possible for us to plan projects ahead, knowing they’ll get done.
