Hello reader! You may be thinking, “isn’t this a Disney blog? Why are you writing about volunteering at a food bank?” Well, I’ve been thinking about branching out on what I write about. Orlando is a vast landscape full of different experiences that I would love to explore on my blog.
That being said, Second Harvest Food Bank is a beneficiary of Disney’s Harvest program that supports many non-profit organizations with food, money, and volunteers.
Walt Disney World is one of the many local organizations that support Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.
This foodbank receives a lot of donations from companies, schools, people, and organizations. Being a non-profit organization, this food bank requires groups of volunteers to sort through and organize their donations before they give them out to the community. Many teenagers come to the food bank to complete their high school volunteer hour requirements.
Being the huge Disney fan that I am, I was happily surprised by this Fantasia-themed hallway that lead towards the volunteer work area. I couldn’t help but take tons of pictures of the brooms adorning the walls.
Let’s get to the actual volunteering part of this post. Once my volunteer group and I arrived at the WDW Volunteer Work Area, we were taught how to sort different meat donations. The meat groups we sorted the food donations into were: red meat, poultry, pork, whole turkey, whole ham, pre-cooked, and miscellaneous. I sorted through boxes of meat donations making sure they were not opened or expired. The goal was to empty the donation boxes and organize the meat into their specific food group while removing any inedible products. For example, I would sort through the boxes and see many packages of beef. I would fill my bag with the packages of beef to help empty the boxes and then place the bag into the red meat bin where it belonged. For 3 hours, my group and I sorted and organized the donations that way and by the end of the shift, we had sorted enough food to cook 3,013 potential meals.
As I explored the facility, I saw inspirational quotes around the walls. Reading these quotes as I worked made me feel great about taking time to volunteer and help the community.
All in all, volunteering at Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida was an inspiring and rewarding experience. Before going, I didn’t know about Disney’s affiliation with the food bank so I was pleasantly surprised to see how Disney was supporting the local community. Do I recommend volunteering at this food bank? For sure! I would definitely return to volunteer again. The staff at the food bank are all kind-hearted and helpful individuals. In high school, I used to volunteer all the time to complete community service requirements to graduate and for organizations I was a part of. Now as an adult, it feels nice to sacrifice my time to volunteer and help the community without expecting anything in return. If you ever volunteer at Second Harvest Food Bank, make sure to take a selfie and post it under the hashtag: #feedhopenow.
Thank you for reading my blog post! I greatly appreciate it and hope you’ll come back for more. Here’s a picture previewing the blog post I’ll be posting next week 😉. Have you ever volunteered there? How was your experience? Comment down below!
DelCarmz 