Opportunity Details

Volunteers are critical to our success at Community Bridges. And with 10 programs, 20 sites throughout Santa Cruz County, and 20,000 people to serve, there are countless ways you can help.

Examples of volunteer opportunities at Community Bridges include: joining our Board of Directors, joining our Fund Development or Event Planning Committees, delivering meals to seniors, guiding a child through after-school programs, leading an activity with one of our child, family or senior programs, or helping in the office to help us run as smoothly and efficiently as possible.

The first step to becoming a volunteer with us is to complete a volunteer application, which can be found at www.communitybridges.org/volunteer. If you have questions about where your passion and skills fit best, or if you have an idea for a project, please contact us at 831-688-8840.

Applications can be sent by email to hr@cbridges.org or delivered by mail or in person to 519 Main St, Watsonville, CA 95076. We are open M-F from 9am to 5pm.

Opportunity Details

Help us rescue fruits and vegetables that would otherwise be plowed under! Boston Area Gleaners organizes volunteer trips to eastern Massachusetts farms throughout the year, on weekdays and weekends; we then distribute the freshly harvested produce to food pantries serving low-income individuals. Gleaning is a great way to get in touch with the food system, get outdoors, and give back to people in need.

Opportunity Details

38,000 people benefit in just 7 months

Join us on Wednesday's in San Rafael to set up for Farmers Market style food distribution, pass out food to the less fortunate in our community, show off your Zumba skills while teaching great exercise practices, be a part of a community that supports each other.

Free, nutritious food; health education; cooking demonstrations; screenings for diabetes and hypertension – and Zumba dancing!
It all comes together at Marin Community Clinics’ weekly Health Hubs, held at our San Rafael and Novato clinics.

Building health and communities
The goal of the Health Hubs is to serve families, seniors, and the working poor who often have to choose between buying healthy food, purchasing gas to travel to work, or paying for needed medical care.

Our Health Hubs are unique
The program is multi-lingual and multi-cultural, providing relevant resources while creating opportunities to promote healthy lifetime choices.

Partnership among participants - SFMarin Food Bank, ExtraFood.org, Marin Community Clinics, and many other community-based organizations.

Rain or Shine - We have a drive-through line for the food bank, which is great when the weather is bad.

Snapshot : June – December 2015
11,700 attended (average 450/week)
38,298 household members benefited
505 screened for diabetes and hypertension
170 referred for screening follow-up
30 volunteers/week (more are needed!)

Health Hubs are held:
~ every Wednesday in San Rafael (3110 Kerner Blvd.) 2:30 – 5:30 pm in winter; 3 – 6 pm rest of year
~ every Thursday in Novato (6100 Redwood Blvd.); 2:30 – 5:30 pm in winter; 3 – 6 pm rest of year.

What participants say
“There are times when we don’t have money to have food on our table, so the bag of food that I can get from the Clinics helps us a lot…especially in winter when my husband can’t find work and because I am not working because of back issues. “(translated from Spanish) –Lucia Rodas, community member

“…many people don’t know where to go for support and help… The Clinic is an ideal place to get medical help and a place to learn about other resources that can help patients’ health, like the Health Hubs.” –Carole Hirokane, Clinics patient

Available Shifts

Shift Name	Signup Max	Start	End
Hub Helper	10	n/a	n/a

Opportunity Details

We have an acre dedicated to growing our own fresh nutritious fruits and vegetables. It takes many hands to keep this year around working Garden and Greenhouse providing sustainability. We are looking for Organizations, Groups or individuals to join us and help us grow and harvest crops. We have 48 Raised garden beds and 25 growing mounds near the food bank.

Available Shifts

Shift Name	Signup Max	Start	End
Garden Tues or Thursday	15	n/a	n/a

Opportunity Details

38,000 people benefit in just 7 months

Join us on Thursday's in Novato to pass out food, set up, show your Zumba skills, enjoy yourselves while helping the less fortunate in our community.

Free, nutritious food; health education; cooking demonstrations; screenings for diabetes and hypertension – and Zumba dancing!

It all comes together at Marin Community Clinics’ weekly Health Hubs, held at our San Rafael and Novato clinics.

Despite its overall high income level, Marin County continues to have great economic disparities. Some can’t afford to put healthy food on the table, and others don’t have easy access to important health information, let alone screening for common chronic diseases.

Building health and communities
The goal of the Health Hubs is to serve families, seniors, and the working poor who often have to choose between buying healthy food, purchasing gas to travel to work, or paying for needed medical care.

Our Health Hubs are unique
The program is multi-lingual and multi-cultural, providing relevant resources while creating opportunities to promote healthy lifetime choices.

Partnership among participants - SFMarin Food Bank, ExtraFood.org, Marin Community Clinics, and many other community-based organizations.

Rain or Shine - We have a drive-through line for the food bank, which is great when the weather is bad.

“Interactive, fun, and family-oriented. It’s about building health and stronger communities.” - Florencia Parada, Health Hub Supervisor

Snapshot : June – December 2015
11,700 attended (average 450/week)
38,298 household members benefited
505 screened for diabetes and hypertension
170 referred for screening follow-up
30 volunteers/week (more are needed!)

Health Hubs are held:
~ every Wednesday in San Rafael (3110 Kerner Blvd.) 2:30 – 5:30 pm in winter; 3 – 6 pm rest of year
~ every Thursday in Novato (6100 Redwood Blvd.); 2:30 – 5:30 pm in winter; 3 – 6 pm rest of year.

What participants say
“There are times when we don’t have money to have food on our table, so the bag of food that I can get from the Clinics helps us a lot…especially in winter when my husband can’t find work and because I am not working because of back issues. “(translated from Spanish) –Lucia Rodas, community member

“…many people don’t know where to go for support and help… The Clinic is an ideal place to get medical help and a place to learn about other resources that can help patients’ health, like the Health Hubs.” –Carole Hirokane, Clinics patient

Available Shifts

Shift Name	Signup Max	Start	End
Hub Helper	10	n/a	n/a
Health Hub Set-UP	10	n/a	n/a
Hub Helper	10	n/a	n/a
Hub Helper	10	n/a	n/a

Opportunity Details

We need you in our effort to feed hungry families in King County! The Tukwila Food Pantry serves residents in the cities of Tukwila, Seatac, Burien and Boulevard Park. Our food distribution days are Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday between 12:30PM and 2:30PM. Additionally, we are located behind the Riverton Park United Methodist Church on 140 th street and Military Rd. which is right on the bus line.

In 2015, the Tukwila Pantry captured 2 million pounds of groceries and fed over 56,000 people. We hope to feed an additional 8,000 families by the summer of 2017. All positions will require a casual dress code; T-shirts and jeans with no rips, holes or tears are welcomed. No open toe shoes. We ask that you maintain a professional demeanor when interacting with clients and other staff. Please be respectful of the families who reside in the living quarters.

This is a great opportunity for college students who are looking to build their resume and gain experience working in the nonprofit sector. Upon completion of your commitment you will receive a letter of recommendation.


Cleaning Crew:
You will be provided basic cleaning materials including protective rubber gloves, dust masks, and cleaning tools. You may also bring your own products if you prefer to use biodegradable and non-toxic options; i.e. Simply Green.

Community Meal:
On Tuesday evenings we serve a community meal between 5:30PM and 6:30PM. Volunteers help with serving a quality meal to the most vulnerable members of our community. We also welcome others who would like to join us for an evening with their neighbors. Preparations begin at 9AM with making salads, baking bread or desserts, cooking for dinner and can extend until 7PM with serving dinner and clean-up. Volunteers may work a few hours or the entire day as desired.

Food distribution:
We are looking for reliable volunteers starting at 10:30 AM and some shifts starting at 6AM Tuesday through Thursday to assist with food distribution. A list of positions include:

· Unloading the truck when new shipments arrive

· Packing pastries and other smaller items

· Removing food from boxes and transferring into crates

Requirements: you must be able to lift up to 30 pounds safely.

Fund Raisers:
We hope to move into a space adjacent to our current location. To secure the building we need to raise $600,000. We could also use funds for additional food support to extend into the next year.

Grocery Rescue:
We aim to extend our inventory to last beyond the end of the year. We are currently working with over forty partners who contribute leftover food throughout the month. You will accompany our drivers to the rescue sites and assist with loading and/or unloading food.

Interior Designer:
Our pantry has gone through many changes in the past year, including improved management and staff. Our new formula has allowed us to make the food bank a positive experience for our clients. The Intake office currently doubles as a lobby and storage space for our service day materials including safety cones and shopping carts. We would like to add a more homey and relaxing feel to the lobby so that clients can feel welcomed in our space while still being able to utilize the room for storage.

Stockroom Coordinator:
We currently have two rooms of inventory that need to be sorted and counted immediately. You will either work independently or with other staff to complete the task.

Translator:
Our pantry is in need of translators to meet and greet our clients which consists mainly of refugees and migrants. .You will be responsible for explaining the intake program requirements, quantity of food for selection on food bank distribution days and to answer any general questions they may have.

Opportunity Details

The Blueberry Fields Community Garden puts a fresh new take on urban gardening to help those in the community who are less fortunate - single parent families who are living in poverty and facing homelessness.

The volunteer-based garden program is a match made in heaven for corporate teams willing to put their green thumbs to great use so that the lower income families served by Home Suite Hope have access to fresh, healthy foods.

The garden is the brainchild of Ken Stockstill, agricultural enthusiast and long time site superintendent of the Upper Oakville Shopping Centre in Oakville, Ontario.

If you can volunteer your time to assist with planting, weeding and watering, it would be greatly appreciated. The centre has already began the process of buying seeds and contacting local garden centres to get in kind donations.

We hope you and your team will lend a hand by volunteering or donating to the cause.

For more information on Blueberry Fields visit www.homesuitehope.org.

Opportunity Details

Take on serving the community with our famous food truck, Babs! Bracken's Kitchen partners with some amazing organizations to feed kids and families in their communities. We will typically travel to low-income residential and housing locations throughout Orange County with everything needed to bring a delicious hot meal! Your duties will include serving prepared meals, distributing drinks, salads, and desserts, and helping with distribution for our guests. But most importantly, to have fun meeting amazing families and kids! You are a light!

Please register to volunteer here: https://timecounts.app/brackens-kitchen/opportunities/shifts/acd656aa-05e6-4c43-8d0e-4a8d43611f7a

Thank you!

Opportunity Details

Event Tabling

Gemma's Angels is seeking volunteers to work at our tabling events. At various community events, fairs, festivals, etc., Gemma's Angels promotes the consumption of fresh fruits and vegetables for at-risk children. We do this by providing a booth where we provide, depending on the event, an EZ-up tent, tables, chairs and hand out fresh vegetables to attendees. We also can have a coloring station for children (pictures of fruits & vegetables), fresh herbs for children to taste and smell, coloring books, book marks and other promotional items. New this year will be the Gemma's Angels Truck Farm Trailer which will have a bed of various vegetable plants, herbs and spices for children to sample. There will be an educational component teaching sustainability. We plan on having our new character, Farmer Andy, be in attendance at as many events as possible promoting the Five-a-Day and other healthy eating habits. The length of the volunteer time depends on each event. Help is needed setting up the tent, tables, chairs and laying out the literature and setting up the fresh produce and other promotional information.

Great for Teens, 55+, Groups

Free HersheyPark Tickets To Volunteer!

Gemma's Angels provides volunteers to work in various capacities within the Hershey Entertainment Complex , which is comprised of Hersheypark , Hersheypark Arena , Hersheypark Stadium , and Giant Center , when their staffing is not up to its full potential. Typically those times of the year are mid-April weekends through Memorial Day, and mid-August through the end of September. Select groups will be asked to work needed shifts for our shoulder season events, which include Halloween In Hershey and Hersheypark Christmas Candylane , as well as assist at Giant Center during the hockey season. For each three to five hour shift, each one of our volunteers receives a voucher good for one (1) HersheyPark admission ticket. The vouchers are good for one year. At busy times, HersheyPark will double and sometimes even triple the vouchers. Our charity will receive $6.00 for every hour that you work. This is a great chance to earn HersheyPark tickets for out of town guests and family!

Great for 55+, Groups (any size)

Car Wash Fundraisers

Gemma’s Angels works locally with First National Bank in Hummelstown, PA to conduct car washes on the bank’s property. They provide the water and we provide everything else—hose, towels, soap and signs. You provide the enthusiastic volunteers. Although car washes may sound as if they don’t amount to much, a slow day raises $100 and an excellent day raises $300. To place it into perspective, $100 buys 300 pounds of fresh produce from a local farmer. THAT feeds many in shelters, food banks and soup kitchens in our two-county area! Car washes are conducted on Saturdays from 10 am to 1 pm. Dates must be booked well in advance.

Great for Groups (any size)

Fresh Produce Drive

Your place of business, worship, school, etc.

Fresh produce is our thing—and we need plenty of it. In fact, we never can have enough! Your group, employees, group at church, school, etc. can conduct a fresh produce drive at your location. You can feel free to call it “Donate-a-Tomato,” which is the same name we use for our local program of home gardeners providing us with their extra produce. All you do is advertise your collection date, the type of produce you wish to limit (most groups accept anything) and we will show up to collect the bounty! We will provide and coordinate signage for your location.

Great for Groups (any size)

Produce Auction Night

Manheim Produce Auction, Manheim, PA

Gemma’s Angels attends the Manheim Produce Auction, which is held every Tuesday from about 2 pm to 9 pm, seasonally. Here’s the catch—we only go when we have funds. More often than not, we simply don’t. On a great night, we can spend about $100 to $150. In a Best of all Worlds situation, you could help us fund the purchases that evening, help us during the auction and then help load afterward. If desired, you can then help distribute to our client locations during the following one to two days after. The auction is a very fun event with all types of “characters” in attendance!

Great for individuals or very small groups (two, three or four persons)

Prepare & Serve Dinner/Lunch at a Shelter

Gemma’s Angels will prepare and serve lunch or dinner at one of the various shelters in Dauphin or Lebanon County that we serve. You provide all of the necessary food and volunteers. Typically, depending on which facility, the cost of food can range from $75 to $150. Ordinarily, we prepare lunch or dinner on weekends although some weekday evenings are available.

Great for very small groups (three to eight persons, depending on the facility)

Gleaning

Gleaning goes back to Biblical times where the hungry would remove what was left of the harvest from the fields of farmers. In the picking of apples, some fall to the ground, are not good for retail use and the farmer allows us to glean what is left. In our case, we go to an orchard in Schuykill county north of Hershey (about 50 mins) and glean apples from an orchard. In years past, we have collected over 1,200 pounds of beautiful, fresh apples. It is in a beautiful farmed valley and makes a great day for the family. Children are welcome to attend!

Great for very small groups (three to eight persons, depending on the facility)

Available Shifts

Shift Name	Signup Max	Start	End
General	no limit	n/a	n/a

Opportunity Details

38,000 people benefit in just 7 months

Join us on Wednesday's in San Rafael to set up for Farmers Market style food distribution, pass out food to the less fortunate in our community, show off your Zumba skills while teaching great exercise practices, be a part of a community that supports each other.

Free, nutritious food; health education; cooking demonstrations; screenings for diabetes and hypertension – and Zumba dancing!
It all comes together at Marin Community Clinics’ weekly Health Hubs, held at our San Rafael and Novato clinics.

Building health and communities
The goal of the Health Hubs is to serve families, seniors, and the working poor who often have to choose between buying healthy food, purchasing gas to travel to work, or paying for needed medical care.

Our Health Hubs are unique
The program is multi-lingual and multi-cultural, providing relevant resources while creating opportunities to promote healthy lifetime choices.

Partnership among participants - SFMarin Food Bank, ExtraFood.org, Marin Community Clinics, and many other community-based organizations.

Rain or Shine - We have a drive-through line for the food bank, which is great when the weather is bad.

Snapshot : June – December 2015
11,700 attended (average 450/week)
38,298 household members benefited
505 screened for diabetes and hypertension
170 referred for screening follow-up
30 volunteers/week (more are needed!)

Health Hubs are held:
~ every Wednesday in San Rafael (3110 Kerner Blvd.) 2:30 – 5:30 pm in winter; 3 – 6 pm rest of year
~ every Thursday in Novato (6100 Redwood Blvd.); 2:30 – 5:30 pm in winter; 3 – 6 pm rest of year.

What participants say
“There are times when we don’t have money to have food on our table, so the bag of food that I can get from the Clinics helps us a lot…especially in winter when my husband can’t find work and because I am not working because of back issues. “(translated from Spanish) –Lucia Rodas, community member

“…many people don’t know where to go for support and help… The Clinic is an ideal place to get medical help and a place to learn about other resources that can help patients’ health, like the Health Hubs.” –Carole Hirokane, Clinics patient

Available Shifts

Shift Name	Signup Max	Start	End
Hub Helper	10	n/a	n/a
Health Hub Set-UP	10	n/a	n/a
Hub Helper	10	n/a	n/a