Second Harvest Heartland is the largest hunger relief organization in the upper Midwest. It is also a part of Feeding America. Feeding America's mission "is to feed America's hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks and engage our country in the fight to end hunger." Second Harvest Heartland's mission is similar in that its mission "is to end hunger through community partnerships." Their goal is to end and prevent hunger. In 2001, Second Harvest Greater Minneapolis and Second Harvest St. Paul joined to form Second Harvest Heartland. There are two locations. The larger facility with the main office is located in St. Paul, while a smaller facility, the service center, is located in Minneapolis. Both of these facilities distribute food all across Minnesota and western Wisconsin. Second Harvest Heartland works to take large amounts of food, package it, and distribute it to places that directly serve the hungry. The food comes from partners, volunteers, and donors. Then this food is distributed to nearly a 1000 places including food shelves, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, senior community centers and children's after school programs. Also, Second Harvest Heartland provides information to many people about where they can find food. This organization works to not only solve the current problem but to solve the entire problem of hunger. Furthermore, Second Harvest Heartland implements programs such as Giving Green which provides fruits and vegetables to the hungry. Another program is the Food Rescue Program which makes sure fresh surplus goes directly from retailers around the area to food shelves in order to eliminate tons of waste. A third program is The Pallet of the Month Club. This program asks for one small donation per month from 30 retailers. These programs along with others greatly help against the struggle with hunger in the upper Midwest. Also, Second Harvest Heartland is part of a Hunger-Free Minnesota along with seven other Minnesota relief organizations. With all the partnerships, volunteers, and distributions, Second Harvest Heartland greatly decreases the amount of people that go hungry and is working to prevent the issue of hunger.
Choosing an agency was difficult for me. At first, I wanted a place where I could work with people. I liked the idea of tutoring but almost all tutoring is done after school between the hours of three and six. Sadly, I have softball every week day from 3:30 to 6. It became increasingly more difficult for me to find an agency because many of the agencies weren't as flexible as I needed them to be. After contacting a few agencies and running slightly too close to the deadline I decided on Second Harvest. I thought their hours seemed flexible (until I got my lifting schedule for this semester). Furthermore, hunger is a major issue in the community and I'm proud that I can make a small but significant difference to the community. Also, Second Harvest was the agency that I volunteered at during the very first week of school so I sort of knew a little about the organization already. I was impressed by the immense amount of food that they bring in, sort, package, and transport to other locations. Last year, they helped sort and transport over 71 million pounds of food! All in all, this agency seemed to be the best option for me.
From this experience, I hope to gain a better appreciation for volunteer work and the need for volunteers at not only Second Harvest but other agencies. I think it will be interesting to see how much of difference one person can make for the community. Maybe from this experience, I can meet other volunteers and find out why they chose to volunteer at Second Harvest and what makes them keep coming back. I love to learn from others and it would be intriguing to communicate with other people who volunteer regularly. Also, this project will help me manage my time better. With over sixteen hours of softball, not to mention games, and our trips to Colorado and Florida, plus six hours of work, and fifteen hours of class per week, I will have to learn how to precisely manage my time in order to accomplish all that needs to be done.
Choosing an agency was difficult for me. At first, I wanted a place where I could work with people. I liked the idea of tutoring but almost all tutoring is done after school between the hours of three and six. Sadly, I have softball every week day from 3:30 to 6. It became increasingly more difficult for me to find an agency because many of the agencies weren't as flexible as I needed them to be. After contacting a few agencies and running slightly too close to the deadline I decided on Second Harvest. I thought their hours seemed flexible (until I got my lifting schedule for this semester). Furthermore, hunger is a major issue in the community and I'm proud that I can make a small but significant difference to the community. Also, Second Harvest was the agency that I volunteered at during the very first week of school so I sort of knew a little about the organization already. I was impressed by the immense amount of food that they bring in, sort, package, and transport to other locations. Last year, they helped sort and transport over 71 million pounds of food! All in all, this agency seemed to be the best option for me.
From this experience, I hope to gain a better appreciation for volunteer work and the need for volunteers at not only Second Harvest but other agencies. I think it will be interesting to see how much of difference one person can make for the community. Maybe from this experience, I can meet other volunteers and find out why they chose to volunteer at Second Harvest and what makes them keep coming back. I love to learn from others and it would be intriguing to communicate with other people who volunteer regularly. Also, this project will help me manage my time better. With over sixteen hours of softball, not to mention games, and our trips to Colorado and Florida, plus six hours of work, and fifteen hours of class per week, I will have to learn how to precisely manage my time in order to accomplish all that needs to be done.
