As information regarding COVID-19 unfolds, in efforts to adhere to CDC guidelines and protect the health of volunteers and staff, the Board of Directors of Inter-Faith Food Shuttle made the decision to suspend most volunteer activities until further notice. Following is the message from Board Chair Bob Alger sent on Saturday, March 21, 2020:
Dear Food Shuttle staff and volunteers,
In light of the spread of COVID-19, the Board of Directors of the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle has made the difficult decision to suspend most volunteer activities effective Monday morning, March 23, 2020. The safety of our employees and of our wonderful volunteers is of upmost importance.
The exception to this suspension is two of our open-air environment locations: the Food Shuttle Farm and Geer Street Learning Garden. Even with these activities, we must require social distancing of at least 6’ apart per volunteer.
Thank you for your understanding. We will eliminate this suspension as soon as it is safe to resume normal activities.
Sincerely,
Bob Alger
Board Chair, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle
According to Andrea Breazeale-King, Vice President of Human Resources for the Food Shuttle, “The suspension of volunteer services means that the many helpful hands we depend on will not be available to us, therefore all staff members who are not performing functions essential to our crisis management response, will be reassigned to cover the activities that volunteers normally perform. For the foreseeable future, the main focus will be on preparing and distributing meals, packing Grocery Bags for Seniors, and emergency boxes to be distributed to community members in need.“
In fiscal year 2018-19, the Food Shuttle relied on volunteers to accomplish 35,120 hours of service. Volunteer Service Director Susan Meador hopes, “the community will rally together to volunteer at our farm and gardens. It’s a critical time now at the start of the planting season. We need volunteers to ensure that we have the bountiful harvest weeks and months from now on which our community depends.”
Individuals wishing to volunteer at the Food Shuttle Farm or Geer Street Learning Garden, can sign up to do so at www.foodshuttle.org/volunteer. Questions about volunteering with other programs should be directed to Volunteer@foodshuttle.org.