2011 volunteer hours = 1.6 million meals
It was a very good year for volunteerism in 2011, according to Volunteer Coordinator Dena Rogers. “We normally record about 22,000 volunteer hours a year. Last year, we had recorded 23,480 hours,” Dena says, “and 1,740 wonderful people volunteered for us.”
In Michigan, the 2011 value of a donated hour of labor was $19.79, according to Independent Sector, the 600-member non-profit network. By that reckoning, volunteers gave Feeding America West Michigan the equivalent of $464,669 – almost half a million dollars–last year. That’s enough for us to distribute almost $5 million worth of food!
Most volunteers work in the Main Warehouse Reclamation Department, sorting, evaluating, washing, repacking and labeling donated food. The department processed 4,153,855 pounds of food in 2011– an increase of 317,635 pounds over the previous year.
Volunteers also help the Food Bank harvest fresh fruit and vegetables, stage fundraising events and perform some office tasks. To learn more about how you can help feed West Michigan by volunteering, visit www.feedwm.org/volunteer.