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Volunteers are the Heart and Soul of AEFB

Volunteers are the heart and soul of the Food Bank and generally keep the place up and running. Members of the community manage daily operations, stock our shelves, help with shoppers, work our food drives and even manage and harvest our own garden.

In 2017 nearly 300 volunteers contributed over 7,000 hours to staff and support operations at the Food Bank. Another 400 participated on site during the Ashland Food Project green bag food drives. Our volunteers span the community from teenagers to seniors, school groups, faith-based organizations and local businesses. Each come here with a desire to contribute their time and talents to our community. We are so grateful for them.

Every morning a core team of 6-8 volunteers are on site by 9AM to help get the Food Bank ready for shoppers. They are busy putting out bread and fresh produce, stocking milk, eggs and protein and re-stocking our shelves. Each day of the week has a core team with a daily volunteer coordinator and intake coordinator. Many of these are long-time Food Bank volunteers and oversee each shift and provide consistency from week to week.

Thinking of Volunteering?

Helping with Food Drives

Every even-numbered month the Ashland Food Project collects those magical green bags from more than 2,500 Ashland households. The food drives are on Saturdays from about 9AM to ~1PM and require 30-40 volunteers on site at the Food Bank to receive, weigh, sort and shelve about 30,000 pounds of food. This is a marvelous opportunity to see our community in action and to work side by side with neighbors and friends old and new. Volunteering at the food drives are a good option for students to accumulate community service hours and see neighbor helping neighbor to feed those in need. To volunteer at the Food Bank you can email info@ashlandemergencyfoodbank or call 541-488-9544.

We welcome groups of friends, co-workers or team members who would like to volunteer together at one of the six annual Ashland Food Project (AFP) food drives. To learn more about the Ashland Food Project or to sign up to be a green bag donor you can contact AFP at 541-488-6976 or www.AshlandFoodProject.com.

Tours and Service Opportunities

We regularly host school groups (ranging from preschoolers to college students), youth organizations and businesses seeking opportunities for community service. This help is invaluable. Even more important is the opportunity for us to spread knowledge about the Food Bank to neighbors who may need us. We ask every volunteer who visits us to serve as an emissary to the greater community.

Join the Green Bag Brigade

We have a great partnership with the Ashland Food Project - who provides us with 36% of our total donations. Every other month, more than 2,500 AFP donors send us food via those magic green bags. To learn more and to sign up, visit the Ashland Food Project website.