Volunteer

Volunteers are essential at all levels of the Food Bank For New York City's operations — from serving hot meals to New Yorkers in need at the Community Kitchen in Harlem to staffing at public awareness and fundraising events!

The Food Bank is currently encouraging our supporters to "Go Orange" — the color of hunger awareness — through volunteer efforts during our NYC Goes Orange campaign, from October 20 through the holiday season. By volunteering during NYC Goes Orange, our annual, citywide awareness- and fundraising campaign, you can help support the day-to-day effort of the Food Bank and our network to fight hunger in our city — and raise hunger awareness by inviting family, friends and coworkers to join you! Plus, during NYC Goes Orange volunteers will be provided with our "Go Orange" button to raise further awareness for hunger relief! If you volunteer at your neighborhood food program, let us know and we will provide you with our awareness-raising button.

Learn how to get involved below! Opportunities are available for individuals and groups.

Warehouse Repack Program Community Kitchen Senior Food Program

CookShop Program Free Tax Assistance Program

Your Neighborhood Food Program Events & Campaigns

WAREHOUSE REPACK PROGRAM
Volunteers are needed at our 90,000 square-foot warehouse in Hunts Point, Bronx, to break down, assess the quality of and repackage food and nonfood products into sizes suitable for distribution to the city's soup kitchens and food pantries. Last year, volunteers donated more than 14,000 hours and repacked food that helped supply more than 600,000 meals for hungry New Yorkers. This need is filled by groups of 10 to 30 volunteers from corporations, schools, nonprofits and other organizations. Volunteers are needed between 9:30am and 3:30pm, Mondays through Fridays. Most groups help for a two to three hour shift. VOLUNTEER

COMMUNITY KITCHEN
The Community Kitchen, located on 116 Street in Harlem, offers low-income New Yorkers a broad range of interrelated programs to alleviate hunger, including a soup kitchen that serves hot meals, a choice-style food pantry and a Meals-on-Heels meal-delivery program. Volunteer opportunities are also available at other food programs throughout New York City. Learn more about these programs below or contact us now to find out which program best suits your interests and availability.

Our Soup Kitchen needs volunteers to help prepare food Mondays through Fridays any time between 10:30am and 3:30pm, and to serve dinner from 4 to 6:30pm. Individual volunteers or small groups of up to six people are welcome. VOLUNTEER

Our choice-style Food Pantry allows eligible New Yorkers to select the fresh produce and packaged, frozen and canned food items they need themselves, free of charge, in a supermarket-style environment. Volunteers are needed Mondays and Wednesdays 9am–1pm and Fridays 3–5pm to help stock pantry shelves, and Tuesdays and Thursdays 9am–4pm to help clients shop, check out, assist with bagging groceries and re-stock shelves. Spanish and Chinese speakers are encouraged to volunteer. Individual volunteers or small groups of up to six people are welcome. VOLUNTEER

Our Meals-on-Heels Program needs volunteers Mondays through Fridays 3:30–6:30pm to help package and deliver meals to homebound, elderly New Yorkers. Volunteers must be 18 or older, prepared to attend a three-hour training session and be able to provide two references in their application. Individual volunteers or small groups of up to three people are welcome. VOLUNTEER

SENIOR FOOD PROGRAM
The Senior Food Program serves an average of 225 early dinners each weekday to seniors in need at the dining facilities of two public schools in Harlem and Manhattan's Lower East Side. Volunteers are needed Mondays through Fridays 3:30–6pm to assist at both of the senior programs by spending time with seniors, maintaining the space and assisting with educational, cultural and recreational activities such as low-impact exercise classes, nutrition workshops and dance lessons. VOLUNTEER

COOKSHOP PROGRAM
The Food Bank provides nutrition-education curriculums for people age 5 to 95 in schools, after-school programs and community-based organizations citywide through our CookShop Program. The program sites are located in New York City's low-income neighborhoods where the incidence of diet-related diseases, such as diabetes and obesity, tends to be higher. The program includes two main components, both of which have a need for volunteer assistance:

CookShop for Adults invites culinary and nutrition students and professionals and food enthusiasts to volunteer at hands-on, nutrition-education workshops that teach participants how to purchase, store, cook and enjoy fresh vegetables in season. Volunteers are needed to assist leaders in structuring and leading workshops that occur on weekdays between the hours of 8:30am and 8pm throughout the five boroughs. Bilingual speakers that have skills with Spanish, Asian languages and African languages are encouraged to volunteer. Depending on their background, volunteers have also assisted in areas including cooking instruction and nutrition education, so let us know any special skills you have! Volunteers are asked to commit 2–3 hours once a month for a 12-month period and are required to attend a 3.5-hour training at the Food Bank's downtown Manhattan office at 39 Broadway. VOLUNTEER

CookShop Classroom is a school-based food and nutrition-education program designed to encourage children to eat more wholesome foods, especially vegetables, whole grains, legumes and fruit. The curriculum materials, which are designed for pre-k to second grade, focus on classroom cooking experiences and allow children to explore how plants grow and where food comes from. Volunteers are needed to assist teachers in structuring and leading workshops that are held once a week between the hours of 9:30am and 3pm for a full semester (October–December or January–May) or full year (October–May) in schools in East and Central Harlem, the South Bronx and Central Brooklyn. Depending on their background, volunteers have also assisted in areas including cooking instruction and nutrition education, so let us know any special skills you have! Volunteers are required to attend a four-hour training at the Food Bank's downtown Manhattan office at 39 Broadway. VOLUNTEER

FREE TAX ASSISTANCE PROGRAM
The Food Bank's Free Tax Assistance Program offers low- to moderate-income New Yorkers help filing their taxes. Every year, 200 to 300 volunteer tax preparers donate their time through the program to help eligible New Yorkers receive credits and refunds including the Earned Income Tax Credit. In 2007, the program prepared more than 42,000 tax returns — helping to secure $80 million in tax benefits and credits for New York City residents — and was the largest civilian free tax preparer in the US for the third, consecutive year.

The Food Bank is currently recruiting volunteers for next year's tax season (starting in January 2009). New volunteers must complete a two-day, weekend training course and pass the IRS test to become IRS certified. Volunteers then set their own schedule for volunteering at one of our Free Tax Assistance sites: in Harlem and Washington Heights in Manhattan; Bedford-Stuyvesant, Downtown Brooklyn and Sunset Park in Brooklyn; South Bronx and Fordham in the Bronx; and Jackson Heights and Jamaica in Queens. Volunteers are required to donate at least 35 hours of their time from late-January through mid-April, approximately three to four hours per week. Upon completion of the program, all volunteers will receive a certificate from the IRS recognizing their contribution.

Learn more about the Free Tax Assistance Program. Contact us for more information or to be placed on a list of interested volunteers for next year's tax season.

YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD FOOD PROGRAM
Food Bank For New York City distributes food to more than 1,000 food assistance programs — including soup kitchens, food pantries, senior centers and shelters — throughout the five boroughs. The majority of these programs rely on volunteers to operate, supplying food and other assistance to low-income New Yorkers. Contact us today to find volunteer opportunities near your home or work, or use our Food Program Locator to locate a program near you.

EVENTS & CAMPAIGNS
From delivering campaign materials to restaurants and supermarkets in your neighborhood to conducting research interviews or distributing gift bags at events, volunteers are essential to the Food Bank's year-round public awareness, research and fundraising efforts. The Food Bank keeps costs low by using volunteers for the "soup-to-nuts" aspects of events, including staffing and invitation distribution — allowing the Food Bank to maintain one of the most efficient business models in the nation's food bank network. Our education and outreach efforts utilize volunteers to conduct interviews for research studies, coordinate Borough Hunger Task Force meetings in communities throughout the city and build relationships with the hospitality industry.

Current Events & Campaigns opportunities include:

• Check-Out Hunger
  Each year the Food Bank For New York City partners with supermarkets throughout the five boroughs to raise money and fight hunger as part of the Check-Out Hunger campaign. Last year, the campaign helped provide more than 485,000 meals for needy New Yorkers. With help from our dedicated volunteers, this year we hope to reach even greater heights.

Volunteers are needed to check in with their local, participating supermarkets over the course of the campaign, our volunteers are an essential part of ensuring the success of Check-Out Hunger. Volunteer!

Contact the Food Bank if you have questions about any volunteer opportunities.