The Monthly Morsel

Recap of September 2023

Join us in December for a Celebration of your hard work this year! More info coming soon.

Announcements and Updates:

We're moving into our new work space!

Starting mid-October, we will begin moving our volunteer activities to their new home in our newly-expanded warehouse space!

This is a long-awaited move that will allow us to centralize our volunteer activities in one area (instead of splitting them across the loading dock). It will reduce set-up time for our staff, which means more time available to run volunteer shifts, as well as offering more space than ever before for our activities. We will be able to pack and prepare more food in more efficient ways, and we are so excited to take this step with all of you!

We anticipate some hiccups as we make the transition and get accustomed to the new set-up, so we ask for your patience as we get everything worked out. Please be extra cautious when working in the new space and follow all safety instructions from staff.

We will also begin transitioning part of the large restaurant/bar area into a volunteer break and gathering space, so in the near future, that will become our main volunteer entrance! We'll send out an email when we make that switch.

Volunteer Opportunity: Kaseberg School Distributions

We need a few volunteers who are available in the early afternoons on the 3rd or 4th Friday of each month to help us pass out School Pantry bags at Kaseberg Elementary School in Roseville. This is a fun opportunity, and we are excited to seek some new recruits to help us with it.

For this role, we require that folks have consistent availability from 2-3:30pm on either the third or fourth Friday of the month, most months of the year. We want this to be a team of 4-8 volunteers who can rotate through each month.

Please email volunteer@placerfoodbank.org if you are interested in learning more. This opportunity is not available to anyone completing hours that require verification for court or school as PFB staff will not be present on-site to sign off.

Warehouse Shifts are Struggling for Sign-Ups

While we are SO excited to move our operations into their new home, our schedule has emptied out as our summer volunteers return to school. If you have any extra time available, we could use your help filling our shifts, as our distribution numbers are starting to creep up after a few months of mostly level attendance.

We have a page of our most urgent shifts on the website that we keep up-to-date weekly, which is always a great place to start if you have some schedule flexibility!

Click here to view the urgent needs page.

September 2023 Recap:

Produce bags packed: 23,226 bags

Meal Kits Distributed: 5,693

Total volunteer hours: 1,765 hours

Individual volunteers: 310 people

Cameron Park:

222 households

680 individuals

This time last year, we served 189 households and 600 individuals

Pollock Pines:

253 households

656 individuals

This time last year, we served 262 households and 720 individuals

Sheridan:

232 households

717 individuals

This time last year, we served 191 households and 621 individuals

Georgetown:

118 households

272 individuals

This time last year, we served 195 households and 559 individuals in the aftermath of the Mosquito fire.

Foresthill:

205 households

570 individuals

This time last year, we served 209 households and 554 individuals in the aftermath of the Mosquito Fire.

Roseville:

728 households

2,337 individuals

This time last year, we served 425 households and 1,418 individuals

Placerville:

384 households

1,056 individuals

This time last year, we served 308 households and 986 individuals

Colfax:

160 households

416 individuals

This time last year, we served 165 households and 436 individuals

Lincoln:

446 households

1,426 individuals

This time last year, we served 296 households and 899 individuals

Rocklin:

708 households

2,170 individuals*

This time last year, we served 508 households and 1,592 individuals.

*This is the first time Rocklin has served 2,000+ people.

Volunteer Spotlight:

Summer Students!

Lovingly compiled by Jeremy

Tanvi, Anishka, and Pranavi (L-R)

Tanvi led our summer volunteers in hours with 81.36 hours! She likes rollercoasters, volleyball, and braiding hair.

Anishka enjoys binge-watching movies, Taylor Swift music, and annoying Tanvi.

Pranavi enjoys making music as well as listening to it, eating ice cream, and she can speak 4 languages. All three of them also speak Telugu!

Ashwin (L) and Nathan (R)

Ashwin is an only child who plays tennis, has a sheepa-doodle, and plays guitar. He is an avid Polo G listener and can speak 3 languages.

Nathan is a Christian and plays sports for fun He is bilingual. He finds joy in engineering things and is described by fellow volunteers as a gym rat who enjoys arm wrestling and annoying his sister. They been friends for two years.

Preston, Claudia, Jayla, and Charvi (L-R)

Preston speaks Vietnamese and has several hidden talents. He can solve a Rubik's cube in under 20 seconds, and can solve it with only one hand. He is always exactly one apple or potato off the weight on produce shifts.

Claudia is a competitive swimmer and enjoys "really bad music." She enjoys crocheting and has a 12 year old mini Schnauzer. She is also bilingual and her favorite fruit is mango.

Jayla's dad taught her to ride a dirt bike. SHe is student body VP at her high school and loves climbing trees. She helps her 92-year old who owns 5 acres of property mow their lawn. She likes to eat pho and riêu.

Those of you who were around last summer will recognize Charvi, who came back to us for a second summer in a row. She now has her drivers license, and is still an awesome person and volunteer!

Colin, our wonderful summer intern, is now studying at UNR in Reno is in the back with the broom and dustpan :)

October Birthdays

Happy birthday to all of our volunteers born this coming month!

Be sure to wish these folks a happy birthday if you see them this month:

Ashwin M.

Monique M.

Gaye L.

Avery W.

Alexa P

Kyle H.

Addyson M.

Mark M.

Debbie M.

Kendall G.

Thomas R.

Regina W.

Larry C

Luis G

Oct 3

Oct 4

Oct 5

Oct 8

Oct 10

Oct 12

Oct 16

Oct 17

Oct 19

Oct 20

Wigen Y.

Sue T.

Matthew D.

Lori W.

Sandra G.

Nathan T.

Angel S.

Alex B.

Elizabeth A.

Jonathan P.

Suzanne W.

Colin M.

Joseph H.

Oct 21

Oct 22

Oct 23

Oct 26

Oct 27

Oct 28

Oct 29

Oct 30

With gratitude and best wishes,

Heidi, Grace, Jeremy, Shatonia, Jose, and Johnny

We want to hear from YOU!

Use this link to submit anonymous comments, concerns, feedback, or other thoughts about your volunteer experience at Placer Food Bank!

All feedback helps us keep growing and improving the volunteer program. Thanks!

Submit your feedback here!

Keep in Touch! Follow Placer Food Bank on Facebook and Instagram:

If you ever feel inclined and able to make a financial donation,

click here to view our online donation website.

Please know that the last thing we want is to make volunteers to feel pressured to donate money, because you are already so generous with your time. We so appreciate your gift of time and spirit, so please don't ever worry that it's not enough on its own.