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| 3 generations of volunteers |
Where I Went:
Where I live, the Beaverton School District participates with Fork It Over. The program donates leftover school cafeteria food to food rescue agencies, saving tons of sandwiches, pizza, and milk from hitting the landfill each week. I’ve completed routes with Fork It Over in week 3 and week 7 of my quest to learn the “nature of a servant”. I’m learning 30 minutes of my morning might make a world of difference to a family that can’t afford a weekly trip to the grocery store.
First Impressions:
My daughters are in the midst of “show week” for Christian Youth Theater’s production of Seussical, Jr. Late night dress rehearsals are causing the whole family to move about like sleep-walkers. I wasn’t excited about spending the few moments I had free this week volunteering somewhere else. Luckily, I chose to help with Fork It Over as my assignment. Squeezing in a route with all of my other Friday morning errands was a cinch.
To watch their granddaughters’ performance, my folks flew in from Phoenix. I invited them to come with me on my weekly serving jaunt so they could get a taste of what I’ve been up to. Shhhh, don’t tell anyone, but I let the girls stay home from school on Friday to rest up before the show. My eldest wanted to catch up with her Grammy and Opa, so she came along on the route.
The Job:
An email came from Fork It Over earlier in the week warning that food pick-ups may be heavy on Friday, the last day of school before Spring Break. I wasn’t worried with my team of helpers.
Dad and I went together into Five Oaks Middle School to assess how much man power we needed. The cafeteria supervisor handed him one box. A heavy box – but still, one box. I guess I didn’t need a team.
Mom and Daughter chatted in the car as we drove to the other two schools on the route. Dad and I quickly popped in and out of the cafeterias. We hauled a cartload of food from the elementary school, but only took one box away from the high school.
We arrived at Hope Food Pantry and “my team” unloaded the car in 2 trips. I took my parents on a brief tour of the pantry and showed off the beautiful children’s play room our church group painted last month.
How To Help:
Liz McGuire, Beaverton’s coordinator for Fork It Over, recently sent this plea via email:
“For the number of people who have registered on VolunteerSpot for Fork It Over, participation is extremely low. The core crew of dedicated “regulars” is too small to cover much more than half of the routes each week. As the driver of a vehicle that gets 13 mpg, I thoroughly understand that driving a FIO route not only takes a little time, but costs a bit too these days. I hope you can find a way to drive a route and consolidate it with another outing. Those 2-school routes during April and May are a great opportunity to volunteer for a shorter trip!”
To qualify, you need to be a registered volunteer with the Beaverton School District and have a driver’s license. If you have any questions about Fork It Over, please comment below.
Don’t live in the Beaverton School District? Check how your local school district handles their lunch room leftovers. Be a part of the movement to get food on the table instead of in the landfill.
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