Hallie Smith
Boston University DC Students Volunteer at Capital Area Food Bank
Hallie Smith
Spring 2016
Students in the Boston University Washington, DC program donated their time Friday, Jan. 29 2016 to various volunteer tasks at the Capital Area Food Bank, the largest food bank in DC.
Some BUDC volunteers organized 4500 pounds worth of food while another group packaged together 1020 Weekend Bags.
Weekend Bags are for children in public schools who receive school-provided meals during the week, but don’t have food in the house over the weekend. The bags are sent to children in Maryland, Virginia and DC. The group that worked on organization sorted various drinks, such as soda, water, milk and juice into different bins for repackaging and distribution.
“Most of our stuff gets done by means of volunteers,” says Michelle Murphy, Coordinator of the Weekend Bag program. “You don’t know how much of an impact you’re making in a three and a half to four hour shift.”
The Capital Area Food Bank is the largest food bank in DC.
Donations make a big impact as well. Although CAFB gets donations from everywhere, including big stores like Safeway, they sometimes get items they don’t want, like unsold holiday candy. Manufacturing mistakes, on the other hand, are a blessing for CAFB. When Cheerios created Gluten Free cereals that turned out to contain gluten, the CAFB ended up with 30,000 boxes of Cheerios.
The worst time for the food bank is summer, when everyone is on vacation, so they are not home to donate. Oye Mack, Manager of Volunteers, says the warehouse sits empty, but “hunger does not go on vacation.”
This is the first time in over two years that the BUDC program has had students volunteer at the CAFB, mostly due to BUDC Resident Hall Assistants, Tyler Brent and Abbey Durak.
“Coming into this position, Abbey and I both wanted to see a volunteering component for this program,” says Brent. “I think it is important to give back to the community that you have all become a part of for this semester and I also enjoying doing community service.”
Brent and Durak are looking into establishing a partnership with the CAFB so future BUDC students can volunteer there as well, and current students approve.
An average of 26,000 volunteers a year help solve hunger at the food bank.
Catie Rutley, a BUDC student from the organization team says she is happy she was able to donate time to the food bank and that it was part of the program.
“I think that volunteering, giving back, and serving the community we’re living in is an awesome idea,” says Rutley. “I think it will turn out to be one of the most memorable events of the semester!”
“At first I thought [volunteering at the food bank] was somewhat unrelated, because other sites are either DC landmarks or of political significance,” says Nick Paprocki, a BUDC student that worked in the Weekend Bags group.
Paprocki wondered why volunteering was a part of the program until he heard Michelle Murphy talk about all the people their work would help. “It made me think ‘This is a great idea.’ And if we’re going to be a part of the community, we should help the community.”
Hallie is a junior majoring in journalism at Boston University.
