Please Bring Us Food, Volunteers!

WHAT DO VOLUNTEERS EXPECT FROM RECIPIENTS

Volunteers are a group of generous, kind and community minded people. Volunteers share their time, ideas, resources for many different reasons.  Thus, the biggest response that any Volunteer would appreciate from the recipients is GRATITUDE!   Just simple words of "Thank you for your kindness" or an acknowledgement for the volunteers effort goes a long way. Sharing a positive outcome such as "the food has really help me eat healthier" or “ So nice to be able to eat all kinds of food” .  This will make any Volunteers feel that their effort can make an impact someone's life. 

HERE ARE SOME SUGGESTIONS TO CONSIDER IF YOU WANT TO VOLUNTEERS TO CONTINUE TO DELIVER FOOD TO YOUR ACCOUNT

Avoid inconsistent hours of operation.  Closures within the normal hours of operation due to meetings or holidays can be disruptive. If you do, please send a courtesy notification to Peninsula Food Runners organization and its volunteers.  

  • You can schedule holidays or administrative breaks by specifying the dates you need a break from food delivery. Access your account with your email and password at www.peninsulafoodrunners.org.  

  • Notify Peninsula Food Runner by leaving a message at 415-826-6903 or emailing info@peninsulafoodrunners.org.  Your action will help ensure that the food will feed the back up recipient, and not be wasted. 

If you are the contact person for the recipient, please be accessible as much as possible.   A prompt response shows commitment and appreciation to the volunteer. This is especially true if the Volunteer is trying to let you know the timing of their arrival with the donations. Get to know your volunteer. Give them your contact information so that you are easy to get hold off.

Offer help to unload .  Many Peninsula Food Runner Volunteers look forward in giving back to the community.  However, at times even with health issues, our Volunteers are dedicated and still would continue to do food runs.  Offering help to the Volunteers to unload food donations regardless their age is another major common courtesy that goes a long long way among the Volunteers.  Safe Harbor, an emergency shelter is one of the most popular shelters that Volunteers like taking food to.  It is considered a highly Volunteer Friendly location among many donors and Volunteers. 

Frequent policy changes regarding food acceptance can be annoying for the Volunteers, especially when they are told that the food cannot be accepted and that they will have to take it elsewhere.  Constant changing of food acceptance policy can discourage Volunteers from wanting to deliver the food to your location.   Please notify the changes to info@peninsulafoodrunners.org so we can update the volunteers regarding your facility.  This avoids the Volunteers from having a "bad experiences"  and labeling your account as  "difficult" to deliver food to.

Can I pick out only what I want and perhaps sent the Volunteer off with the rest?

  •  We would like to treat all our recipients with respect and as fair as possible. We prefer that the recipients take the donations delivered without sorting through what is preferred.  If food is to be shared, then a fair division should occur to try to donate a complete meal as possible.   

Apathy, Rudeness, Indifference, and lack of enthusiasm behaviors are all discouraging to volunteers!

  • Volunteers can feel turned off when Recipient staffs are rude, unappreciative and don't care about food insecurities among their clients or toward the food donations being delivered.  i.e. Produce is being delivered. The facility staff  lets the Volunteer know that "their clients don't really care for the produce".  If the Staff doesn't take the time to follow up with this statement that they just made, the Volunteer might go away feeling disappointed and disillusion about their role of delivering the produce. Thus, its always best policy for the Staff to voice such opinion to the organizers of the food distribution and not necessarily to Volunteers.  And if the staff chooses to say something to point out the reality of what is observe or felt, follow through with a positive statement that offers a sense of hope to the Volunteers.   In this case, the follow up statement could go something like this, "The clients don't really care for the vegetables, but WE know how important it is for everyone to consume their greens. We just got to get more creative in showing our clients how wonderful vegetables can be for them.  We really appreciate your effort to help our client eat healthier. Thank you so much."