Volunteer 100 Hours

Earlier this year, I was a volunteering machine for Second Harvest Heartland. I volunteer for their special events and had a short, but fun run. I haven't stopped volunteering for them, but there hasn't been a lot of options this summer and I have had prior commitments for what there were. I'm sure it will pick up in the fall, but right now, I have the volunteering bug.

Today I attended a volunteer orientation for Open Arms of MN. Open Arms provides wholesome meals for people with HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, MS, and ALS. The meals are packaged for a week and delivered directly to the homes of the participants.

I chose to start volunteering for Open Arms for a variety of reasons. First, I like cooking. I'll be working in the kitchen on a weekly basis cooking. It is perfect for me. Second, they were local. I was only interested in volunteering for an organization within biking distance of my house. Third, and this was a huge reason, they are flexible. There were lots of cool volunteer opportunities out there that specified 10-2 on Tuesday or Saturday afternoons only. I needed to be able to do it after work and to be somewhat flexible. Open Arms has multiple shifts every day. While I hope to have a regular shift, I'll be able to fill in if I have time on other nights and times as they have space. Finally, I fully support their cause. Food and hunger issues are very important to me.

Tonight, I found out some additional cool things about the organization that I love. They are hoping to switch to an all organic menu in the future. They use local farmers a lot in the summer. They have a African Meal since they have so many clients from Africa who have different ideas of comfort foods. They can customize any meal for a client. And they provide food for the whole family, including kids' meals. How cool is that?

Next week I have a food safety class and then I get to start volunteering regularly. I'm pretty excited.