READING, Pa. – With the holiday season in full swing and lots more people dealing with food insecurity this year, Helping Harvest is working hard to meet that increased need.
A number of groups are spending some time helping to volunteer.
“We plated up some chicken [and] put them on trays, getting them ready to be put in the oven,” said Celi Vette Rivera.
Rivera was at Helping Harvest Community Kitchen volunteering with a group from the Reading School District.
“Our director of the Reading Virtual Academy, he wanted to do something for the community, especially now that it’s Thanksgiving, giving back,” said Rivera. “So, he said, ‘hey, we’re going to go do some community service.'” “I was like, ‘I’m down, let’s do it, yeah.'”
This time of year, Helping Harvest has many community groups and organizations come in to lend helping hands volunteering in the community kitchen, the warehouse and the mobile markets.
“It really does take a lot of people to keep operations going not only in our two locations but also out at mobile markets,” says Nikki Gum, Marketing and Communications Coordinator for Helping Harvest.
Nikki Gum with Helping Harvest says last Thursday, the food bank had its busiest delivery day of the year, distributing more than 96,000 pounds of food.
She says having the community kitchen open for this holiday season has been a game-changer in terms of preparing heat-and-eat ready meals and increasing the food bank’s capabilities in terms of repackaging bulk food into smaller, more useable quantities.
“It’s another opportunity to get more product out to the people who need it, when previously we might’ve had to say ‘no thank you’ to those types of donations,” said Gum.
Rivera, a novice to volunteering, says she’s grateful to be able to help out.
“I have never volunteered, here or anywhere else, but this experience has opened my eyes and I am hoping opening doors too,” she said.
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