Volunteers from Around the World!

The week before that big snow and ice storm hit we had a group of 12 high school students from Brazil volunteering at Cherry Street Food Bank for the afternoon. They are Youth Ambassadors from the World Affairs Council spending about three months in the United States volunteering and then taking their experiences back to their country.

They were incredibly bright, energetic and motivated and they helped repack oats and work the line handing out food to clients. We always feel lucky when groups like theirs stop by. We learn as much from them as they do from us!



Derek being interviewed by the film crew.

They had a Brazilian camera crew following them for a show that will detail their U.S. adventures once they return home. Our food bank manager, Derek, was interviewed and he described the work they did at the food bank that day as well as the overall impact our volunteers have. Did you know that last year we had 6,500 volunteers who contributed about 88,730 hours - the equivalent of 42 full-time employees?
January, February and March are typically slow times for us for volunteers -- in Kent, Yakima and Spokane. If you're interested in lending a hand you can learn more here!