Volunteer
At Fresh Food Weekly, we're always looking for volunteers to help us operate. If you'd like to volunteer for Fresh Food Weekly, please send an email to Leah Dyck at: ffwbarrie@gmail.com with the type of volunteering you would like to do and the date(s) you're available to do them :). Thank you so much!
On-Going Volunteer Needs
Delivery Drivers
Our delivery days take place every other Tuesday and meal box deliveries begin at 4pm and finish around 5:30pm. Delivery drivers can choose how many deliveries they'd like to do, but generally, drivers deliver five to six meal boxes (three to five heavy-duty bags with handles) to program recipients who all live very close to each other, in Barrie OR Innisfil.
Pickup Drivers
Pickup drivers pickup purchased or donated food from local suppliers located in Barrie, Innisfil, Springwater, Alliston, Thornbury, the Holland Marsh and Newmarket and then bring it to Countryside United Church in Thornton for 3:30pm every other Monday (previously this time was 11am).
Baggers
Since we order large quantities of food in bulk, we often need to bag or box or bottle food into smaller, individual packages so we can include them in our meal boxes. Our bagging days happen on Mondays at 3pm (previously Mondays at 11am) at Countryside United Church in Thornton.
Packers
Every other Tuesday between 3pm and 5pm, we need six volunteer packers to help us pack around 80 meal boxes at Countryside United Church in Thornton. This is a fast-paced position that requires volunteers to be on their feet for two hours, as well as lifting up to 20 lbs (moving bags of heavy groceries from one end of the church to the other).
Cleanup Crew
We are always in need of two or three volunteers to stay and help us cleanup Countryside United Church in Thornton after all the deliveries have gone out on delivery days. Delivery days usually end between 5pm and 5:30pm, every other Tuesday.
Callers
To reduce as much food waste as possible, program recipients are required to fill out a food order form for each meal box they receive. We need volunteers to call recipients who don't have access to internet but do have a landline. Volunteer callers simply need to fill out an online food order form on behalf of recipients they call by asking them the form's questions over the phone. Forms generally take three to five minutes to fill out.
High School Students
Fresh Food Weekly welcomes high school students seeking community service volunteer hours. One of the nice things about volunteering for Fresh Food Weekly is that there's no commitment to come back again; whether teenagers need four more hours or all 40 still, they can come back as many or as few times as they would like. Additionally, volunteer opportunities are usually only one to two hours in length, which helps if teens are managing school and a part-time job all at the same time.
If you're a high school student interested in volunteering for Fresh Food Weekly, please reach out to Leah Dyck by email at: ffwbarrie@gmail.com and indicate the date and volunteer activity you would like to signup for.
High School Student Volunteer Forms
Here are some local high school downloadable community service hours forms for easy access:
