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Published: 1 October 2021, Friday
Food from the Heart’s beneficiaries has been increasing over the period of the pandemic; our Community Food Pack and School Goodie Bag programmes currently serves over 10,000 households with 150,000 food items per month.
To provide better food security, consistency is key. Our staff and volunteers are working extra hard to push beyond our previous capacity to serve the needs of all our beneficiaries in a sustainable and reliable manner. Despite having acquired extra warehouse space last year to house more rations and meet safe distancing measures, there was still a need for more hands on deck for us to further scale up our operations and manage the higher volume.
We have since started regular evening volunteering sessions on every Tuesday and Thursday to complement the existing volunteering sessions that go on during the day. A team of volunteers, often a mix of students, retirees and working professionals, turn up for each evening volunteering session from 6pm – 9pm to help ensure that Food from the Heart’s rations get checked, sorted, prepared and ready to get delivered to our beneficiaries on time.
The extra volunteering sessions has also led to the need for regular volunteers who can guide others at Food from the Heart. On top of a logistic staff present to operate logistical equipment, a leader who is well-versed in operational processes is required to manage and facilitate the work of the volunteers.
Clara, a regular volunteer at Food from the Heart since February this year, has become so familiar with our volunteering activities that she now helps to lead the evening volunteering sessions. In addition to what a typical volunteer does at the warehouse, she briefs the volunteers on what to do, how to do it, and serves as a contact point for questions.
“Having Clara around helps a lot because she can be physically present to facilitate activities and help out new volunteers who are not familiar with processes. This frees me up to attend to other things,” says Kelvin Lee, Logistics Executive.
When asked about how she felt about the additional duties, Clara responded, “It feels good! There is an additional sense of fulfilment in guiding other like-minded people along in a cause that we’re all passionate about. It’s also good to know that I am relieving the staff so that they can catch a breather.”
Adding on about her regular voluntarism, Clara says, “It has been a very positive volunteering experience at Food from the Heart and everything is well-organised, which makes me want to come back more. It is time well-spent!”
As more volunteers join us in the evening sessions as regulars, operations have improved to become more seamless while in turn the volunteers enjoy the positive vibes and camaraderie – a win-win situation that guides us towards a more caring and tighter-knit society.
