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Volunteer Appreciation Week

IMG_1635National Volunteer Week is about inspiring, recognizing and encouraging people to seek out imaginative ways to engage in their communities. It’s about demonstrating that by working together, we have the fortitude to meet our challenges and accomplish our goals.

Here at Second Harvest, we are so fortunate to have an incredible community of more than 34,000 volunteers who are passionate about our mission and give their time each and every day. Our volunteers sort and pack food donations, prepare BackPacks for hungry children, pack senior and family boxes for emergency food assistance, glean fresh food from local farms, and distribute food at Mobile Pantries. In total, the value of Second Harvest volunteers’ time and talent is approximately $1.9 million.

Because we truly could not do the work we do without our volunteers, we wanted to take time out this week to show our appreciation. On Sunday, we celebrated our volunteers and their families at our Volunteer Recognition Celebration. We honored our volunteer award recipients, hosted kid-friendly crafts and had a photo booth on site to capture all the fun!

Congratulations to our 2016 Volunteer Award Recipients!

Golden Pallet Award for Volunteering Excellence: Mike Joyner
With deep gratitude for his hard work and dedication to the mission of Second Harvest throughout his five years of volunteering in the warehouse. Mike’s commitment to feeding our hungry neighbors is truly inspiring and his humble spirit is an encouragement to all who meet him. Mike has logged over 2000 hours of volunteering since 2011.

Golden Pallet Award for Family Volunteering: The Parker Family
With deep gratitude for their hard work and dedication to the mission of Second Harvest through their monthly volunteering on Family Nights. Their enthusiastic attitudes for helping others and their commitment to encouraging people of all ages to be involved in feeding the hungry is to be commended.

Golden Pallet Award for School Volunteering: KIPP Academy & Coach Caldwell
With deep gratitude for their hard work and dedication to the mission of Second Harvest. Coach Caldwell has brought dozens of young volunteers over the years and works alongside them while sorting food, encouraging and empowering them as they help feed our hungry neighbors. KIPP Academy logged over 450 hours of Volunteering at Second Harvest in 2015.

Golden Pallet Award for Group Volunteering: Joelton Church of Christ
With deep gratitude for their hard work and dedication to the mission of Second Harvest. They eagerly volunteer each month in the cooler, and logged an impressive 408 hours in 2015. Their joyful attitudes are an encouragement as they sort much-needed frozen protein for our hungry neighbors across Middle Tennessee.

Golden Pallet Award for Culinary Volunteering: Alison Olsen
With deep gratitude for her hard work and dedication to the mission of Second Harvest throughout her years of volunteering in the Culinary Arts Center. Her dependability and culinary talents are treasured by the CAC staff and fellow volunteers. Alison logged 148 volunteer hours in 2015.

Golden Pallet Award for Volunteering Excellence: Chase Breland
With deep gratitude for his dedication to the mission of Second Harvest. Chase played an integral part in forming Second Harvest’s young professional group, Friends of the Food Bank, as one of the founding Steering Committee Members. Since inception, he has helped plan and attended all five FOFB’s Volunteer & Have a Beer events resulting in more than 500 volunteer hours.

Golden Pallet Award for Volunteering Excellence: Kunal Rao
With deep gratitude for his hard work and dedication to the mission of Second Harvest. In addition to his regular weekend volunteering over the years and his service as a committee member for Second Harvest’s young professional group, Friends of the Food Bank, Kunal has generously given of his time and talents to improve the efficiency and processes of the volunteer sort rooms.

Golden Pallet Award for Corporate Volunteerism: HCA Healthcare
With deep gratitude for their hard work and dedication to the mission of Second Harvest. HCA and it’s employees set the standard for corporate volunteerism in our community. Each year, employees throughout HCA give of their time to fight hunger in Middle Tennessee. HCA volunteers logged 785 hours in 2015.

Golden Pallet Award for Corporate Volunteerism: O’Charley’s
With deep gratitude for their hard work and dedication to the mission of Second Harvest. O’Charley’s makes it’s commitment to fighting hunger evident to its managers around the country and the community here in Nashville by their regular and dedicated volunteerism at our facility. O’Charley’s volunteers logged 690 hours in 2015.

Golden Pallet Award for Group Volunteering: Girl Scout Troop 104
With deep gratitude for their hard work and dedication to the mission of Second Harvest through their work with the Backpack Program over the years. They are always bubbling with excitement as they quickly pack bags of food for hungry kids across Middle Tennessee. Girl Scout Troop 104 volunteers logged 155 hours in 2015.

Thank you to all of our volunteers who joined us at our Volunteer Recognition Celebration and to everyone who helped to make this a great event, especially: Volunteer Engagement Coordinator, Lisa Wagar, who handmade each Golden Pallet trophy, Farm to Families Coordinator, Betsy Aho, for providing seeds and expertise for the potted plant activity and The Christie Cookie Co. for providing sweet treats for everyone to enjoy!

volunteer awards

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