Volunteering at VEAP

This month we had the opportunity to volunteer with VEAP (Volunteers Enlisted to Assist People). Their staff is devoted to creating pathways to stronger, more hopeful communities through access to healthy food, housing stability, and supportive services. We helped with their mobile food pantry which operates twice a week and is open to everyone! They provide shelf-stable items (like pasta, cereals, canned goods, etc.) as well as meat, dairy, vegetables, fruit and bread. They also have household items like shampoo, toilet paper, diapers, pet food and more.

There were several different tasks for the volunteers such as gathering information from the visitors, being a personal shopper, and loading groceries into vehicles for the recipients. When visitors arrived, they could pull around to the back of the building where a volunteer would ask them which items they prefer. That information was then passed off to a personal food shopper who would gather those items from the pantry. Carly & Kelly both worked as shoppers and were delighted to see how many great options were available. The vehicle would then pull ahead to another door where a volunteer would load those items into their car. Cole & Corey helped with this last step of loading the groceries into the participant’s vehicle. They also got to offer a few specialty items that were available just today, like extra fruit or an special bakery item. The process was incredibly well organized! We look forward to volunteering with VEAP again in the future.