There are a variety of opportunities for individuals and families interested in volunteering. If you have volunteered with us before and are interested in pursuing leadership opportunities as a volunteer, take a moment to learn more. Read through the opportunities below to determine an area of interest. Once you’ve found a project, click the button below to sign-up.
Distribution Center Volunteers:
Volunteers help make our programs possible. Volunteers must be at least 6 years of age or older. Volunteers 6-16 may volunteer with parental supervision. Volunteers under the age of 18 must bring in a paper waiver signed by their parent or guardian. All volunteers are required to wear closed toed shoes in order to work in the Distribution Center. Volunteer shifts begin with the shift name listed during sign up, but volunteers may work on any of the following tasks during their shift:
Farm2Kids: Volunteers help to pack Farm2Kids program bags with 3-5 pounds of produce. These bags are our way of getting nutritious foods into kids’ lives.
BackPack: These bags are filled with staple items on Saturdays, and finished when produce is added on Wednesday evenings and Thursday morning to go out to children over the weekend. The children receiving these bags are getting free and reduced price meals at school and rely on these bags for food over the weekend.
Reclamation: Volunteers help to sort food that has been pulled from grocery store shelves and is headed to the landfill even though 60% is still good to eat. Volunteers help to check printed expiration dates, with their extended best by date. Then they sort the food by type, box it up, and get it ready to go to the community.
Food Sorting:
Repack: We procure bulk product in 50 pound bags to cut costs, and then repack the items into smaller, 1-pound, family friendly bags. We repack beans, rice, cereals and more. We seal, label, box, and palletize the bags, and then send them to the community through our partner agencies.
Label: Volunteers help to label blank cans called brites with nutrition information. These cans are donated by donors who overproduced and don’t want to spend the extra money to label product they aren’t going to sell. We label and box the product and then get it out to the community through partner agencies and programs.
Gleaning: Volunteers help to sort produce that comes in largely through the California Association of Food Banks or from local donors. This produce doesn’t pass the grocery store test where everything is the same size, shape, and color, but often looks like something you might find in your home garden. Volunteers help to sort out any produce that don’t meet our safety standards for distribution through programs, including our Mobile Pantry.
Office Volunteers
We are happy to have help from volunteers interested in working beside staff in the office. Office volunteers will be scheduled on an individual basis depending on interests and skills. If interested in becoming an office volunteer, please visit the employment opportunities page for job descriptions and the application.
Court-Ordered/ Required School Service Volunteers
Feeding America San Diego is happy to help you fulfill your court-ordered and school service hours.
School Service: Volunteers looking for required school service hours may sign up just like all other individuals. Sign ups are on a first come first serve basis, so be sure to plan ahead accordingly. Please email the volunteer department at least 3 days before a letter is needed if you require such documentation verifying your service hours.
Court-Ordered Volunteers: All court-ordered volunteers must be cleared by the volunteer program. We allow volunteers with misdemeanor offenses only, and do not allow violent, sexual, or theft related offenses. Only hours that take place after a volunteer has been cleared by the department will be included in any letter created by the volunteer program to verify hours. A copy of your ticket and any information regarding verification requirements must be turned in on your first visit. Sign ups are on a first come first serve basis, so be sure to plan ahead accordingly. Please email the volunteer department at least 3 days before a letter is needed if you require such documentation verifying your service hours.
Special Events Volunteers
We have multiple special events throughout the year, and are always looking for volunteers interested in making our big days successful! Please click the Volunteer Now button to take a look at our current special events, or email Alicia Saake to be added to our special event volunteers email list.