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Monday, April 15

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We have been hearing about Blessings of Hope from a variety of sources – especially our friends John and Arlene who are faithful volunteers.

The other week we decided to get involved by volunteering at the Leola Warehouse and signed up for the 8:30 am to 11:00 am shift on Monday.

The early Monday shift is usually setup for families, so there were a lot of homeschool parents and children. There is also an area where young children can play. Most shifts are for adults only – which is for ages 10 and up.

On this morning, we were putting French Baguettes into their sleeves. There were boxes and boxes of them. Some gracious business donated many skids of them. When a box was finished it was put on a conveyor belt.

I think all shifts are for two and a half hours. At 10:45 we were encouraged to finish the box on our table, then use a cleaner on the table, and a provided broom to sweep the area around us.

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This is from the Blessings of Hope website:

TRANSFORMING FOOD SURPLUS INTO COMMUNITY IMPACT

Blessings of Hope is a nonprofit organization committed to addressing today’s global food crisis through dedicated food distribution efforts. Large corporations can efficiently donate food through Blessings of Hope to give back to the community and people in need.

Our ability to process and distribute the equivalent of 1.6 million meals each month empowers regional ministries, churches, disaster relief organizations, and food banks to serve their local communities by feeding the hungry and sharing the love of Jesus. 

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Next week we signed up to go to the East Petersburg Warehouse where food dehydration happens. We could be packing items for distribution or working with food that will be dehydrated.

After you sign up to be a volunteer, you receive regular emails concerning shifts that have openings. We like this because we can look at our schedule each week and choose a day – then the early morning, afternoon or late afternoon shift. It is quite easy to cancel a shift if necessary.

The blessing for us is that we each receive one voucher per shift. This is for shopping at Lancaster Blessings of Hope – a grocery and dry goods store where you need a voucher to shop.

I am pretty sure this is going to become a regular routine in our lives.