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Before coming in to volunteer, please complete our Volunteer Form. The link to our current sessions can be found on our Sign Up Genius.
Our Regular Volunteer Opportunities
- Packing – During packing, volunteers will work in an assembly line adding items to a grocery bag. All bags packaged during a session will be in the hands of a student that weekend. Volunteer sessions are usually an hour and a half long and we pack an average of 600 bags during each session.
- Prepping – During prepping, volunteers will assist in getting food ready to be packed. The most common need is for the fruit cups, four of which need to be placed in ziploc bags before they can go in the bigger bags of food. The prepping work is less physically demanding than the packing of the actual bags and can easily be done seated.
- Driving – Volunteers will come to the facility on Thursday morning to pick up bags for their assigned school. Our staff and volunteers will assist in loading the bags into the car and provide directions and contact information for the school. Schools receive anywhere from 10 – 80 bags of food each week so please specify what size car you have before signing up. When empty, most sedans can take up to 40 bags and most SUVs 50 and above. We ask each school to be ready for the delivery and to help with unloading, but this isn’t always possible, and you might be asked to unload the bags. Please take this into consideration in terms of time and your ability to lift the bags, which average 10 lbs each. The time commitment is usually an hour and a half between loading and delivering bags.
Additional Opportunities
- Assembling Bags – Our food is packed into a doubled up plastic bag so that the inner bag can be securely tied for transport while the students are still able to easily carry it by the more durable, outer bag. We have some assembly sessions in our facility, but volunteers can also pick up a box of inner and outer bags and assemble them at home on their own schedule. This is a very helpful way to get involved if our sessions don’t work for your schedule. Email volunteer@weekendbackpacks.org, to set this up.
- Collections – We do a large collection of winter accessories including hats, gloves, scarves, and socks throughout the fall to be distributed to schools in December. If you’d like to arrange a drive we can provide a collection bin. We also provide hygiene items throughout the year if you would like to collect them at any time. The most requested items are toothbrushes, toothpaste, and deodorant. We can accept smaller amounts dropped off at our facility or you can order off our Amazon wishlist.
