Afternoon at Break Through
The Relish team had another great afternoon of volunteering at Breakthrough Kitchen last Friday, August 2. It was a good mix of newbies and experienced volunteers, who helped the new folks to learn the ground rules and some tips before getting started for the day.
When we first arrived, the delivery trucks hadn't arrived yet. We took that time for Fernando and Taylor - who had attended previously - to give us a debrief on what to expect. While stocking shelves might seem straightforward, there were a few pointers that we were glad to learn. These included waiting for the truck to be fully unloaded before beginning to check the inventory and stock the food on the shelves, stacking boxes on pallets rather than on the floor, and always keeping track of both parts of the banana boxes (as they reuse them to stock extra food in the freezer). These guidelines were great to know before the hustle and bustle of the work day began.
As Fernando and Patrick unpacked the truck, the food stocking volunteers got the rundown on our most important duty - checking the incoming food for quality and freshness. Miss Sally told us the package dates to look for, and the number of days that each item could be remain stocked. As the shipment came in and we began to stock, we realized that it was usually a simple decision for whether an item could be stocked or not (bread well beyond it's sell by date, yogurt that had accidentally opened during shipment).
However, the crew had quite the debate over what made a good banana! On first glance, many looked brown and unappetizing but were perfectly yellow upon opening them up.A regular volunteer told us the browning was due to refrigeration, and the bananas were perfect for eating, freezing for smoothies, or baking into banana bread. When she found out Miss Sally had been turning the brown bananas away, she was pretty upset!
The first-time volunteers had also been equipped with the learnings from previous Relish volunteers and knew how important building relationships is to Breakthrough, to their regular volunteers and to their community. Each time we visit, we continue to honor those values and dedicate our time there to creating stronger connections with people. During this visit specifically, Kristen spent some quality time with Miss Irene, a regular volunteer at Breakthrough, while they stocked the fridge together. Kristen learned about her education, the printing company she worked at for over 20 years and her many children.
Each of our volunteer groups have benefited from learning about previous groups' experiences, and in that spirit, we hope to continue to share more broadly with others. While wrapping up for the day last Friday, we discussed how we can use our many public-facing touchpoints (going beyond this blog!) to share with more people about Breakthrough Kitchen and other volunteer experiences we might have in the future. We're looking forward to getting creative on how to show and tell about Relish giving back.
Until next time!
- Halle