volunteers

Merck volunteer team breaks record at Child Food Hub

Ending hunger in our community is a group effort, but that doesn’t mean our volunteers can’t engage in a little friendly competition!

On July 20th, a team of fifteen volunteers from Merck pharmaceutical company arrived at the Child Food Hub in Durham to pack family meal boxes. These boxes provide meals to hungry families across seven counties in North Carolina. Learn more about volunteering at our Child Food Hub here.  

When the volunteer team learned from staff that the record for family meal box packing was 421 boxes in one shift, they were immediately determined to break this record. They worked hard through the morning, filling box after box with nutritious food. At the end of their shift, they were proud to learn that they had packed 493 family meal boxes, beating the previous record by 72 boxes!

“The Merck volunteers were so efficient and kind,” shares Candace Burch, warehouse associate at the Child Food Hub. “We loved them and welcome them back any time!”

Thank you to the Merck team for a wonderful group packing event! We truly appreciate your enthusiasm and dedication and look forward to continuing this wonderful partnership.

Do you think your team has what it takes to break Merck’s record? Group volunteering events like this serve as wonderful team-building activities while also making a positive impact on our community.  Learn more about similar group volunteering opportunities here. Please contact Marc Holaday, volunteer services manager, at Marc@foodshuttle.org with any further questions.

Volunteer Appreciation Month: We Love Our Volunteers!

Volunteer Appreciation Month: We Love Our Volunteers!

In short, we love our volunteers! April is Volunteer Appreciation Month, and we take appreciating our volunteers pretty seriously. 

Food Shuttle Certified as Service Enterprise by Points of Light

Food Shuttle Certified as Service Enterprise by Points of Light

Inter-Faith Food Shuttle has been certified as a Service Enterprise by Points of Light - the world’s largest organization dedicated to volunteer service. With this certification, the Food Shuttle joins a prestigious group of nonprofits committed to effectively delivering on our mission by strategically engaging volunteer time and talent.

Grocery Bags for Seniors Provide Nutrition and Sense of Community

Grocery Bags for Seniors Provide Nutrition and Sense of Community

Peggy and Faye are two community members who receive grocery bags from Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s Grocery Bags for Seniors program. Through this program, volunteers come together to pack over 2,000 grocery bags a month with fresh produce and non-perishable groceries and deliver them to local seniors who many be at risk of hunger.

The Food Shuttle Celebrates Volunteer Appreciation Month

The Food Shuttle Celebrates Volunteer Appreciation Month

Along with blooming flowers and April showers, it is time once again to celebrate National Volunteer Appreciation Month! Inter-Faith Food Shuttle has so many reasons to celebrate. Across all our programs during the last year, Food Shuttle volunteers provided more than 1,800 hours of service

For monthly donors, Ryan and Amanda Vargochik, food is more than nourishment. It brings us together.

For monthly donors, Ryan and Amanda Vargochik, food is more than nourishment. It brings us together.

“Food is a universal language. If we can connect with each other and help each other in that way, it just brings us all together,” offers Ryan Vargochik when asked why he supports Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. Ryan and his wife, Amanda, have been Food Shuttle donors for the last eight years.

Gardens For Everyone Continues to Grow a Bountiful Harvest

Gardens For Everyone Continues to Grow a Bountiful Harvest

Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s Gardens For Everyone program took off like a rocket ship after launching in 2020, with new raised garden bends completed at homes, community centers, preschools, transitional housing facilities, and other sites throughout the community

Community Health Education Initiative Prepares to Launch "Spanish Family Kitchen" Video Series

Community Health Education Initiative Prepares to Launch "Spanish Family Kitchen" Video Series

In an effort to be more culturally inclusive and broaden the reach of the Community Health Education initiative, a “Spanish Family Kitchen” series is currently in the works. The series will not only be presented in the Spanish language, but will feature nutrition information, culturally familiar recipes, and activities relevant to the LatinX community. A summer launch is planned for the online series.

A Lifetime of Service: WWII Veteran and Long-time Food Shuttle Volunteer Warren Shaw

A Lifetime of Service: WWII Veteran and Long-time Food Shuttle Volunteer Warren Shaw

Warren Shaw was 18 years old and newly graduated from high school when he enlisted in the Navy on a spring day in 1944. World War II had been raging across the globe for five long years and Warren and his former classmates were stepping up to join the legion of men and women who were serving in the armed forces to help bring this cataclysm to an end.