In early February, twenty-two volunteers from the Austin Food Blogger Alliance spent an evening at the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas. We were there to help sort through donations from the Food Bank’s Souper Bowl of Caring donation drive.
CAFB welcomed AFBA volunteers for an evening of giving back through service
With work clothes on and following an orientation from Bethany and Lea (part of the Food Bank’s dedicated team), AFBA members got down to business, preparing nearly 10,000 pounds of food for distribution to people in need in the Austin area. That’s equivalent to almost 8,000 meals for Austin’s hungry!
Photo by Michelle Fandrich, The Kid Can Cook
If you visited your local grocery store in January and early February, you probably saw some of these bags full of canned goods for donation to Food Bank. Maybe you even donated one. If you’ve ever wondered what happens to the food you donate to the Food Bank, it’s simple.
Trailers deliver donations to the Food Bank. Photo by Michelle Fandrich, The Kid Can Cook
Your donations are delivered to the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas on one of these semi-trailers. All told, Souper Bowl of Caring donations filled five trailers – that’s over 835,000 pounds of food!
Photo by Tiffany Harelik, The Trailer Food Diaries
Volunteers and staff unpack the donated goods and sort them into different categories.
Photo by Michelle Fandrich, The Kid Can Cook
Sorted donations travel down the Food Bank’s conveyor belt to be packaged for short-term storage in the warehouse before they are distributed to those in need via service organizations, food pantries in the area and CAFB’s mobile food pantry.
One of about nine pallets of canned goods processed by AFBA volunteers. Photo by Michelle Fandrich, The Kid Can Cook
At the end of the night, our volunteers got to add their name badges to CAFB’s super “ball” of caring.
Photo by Kathryn Hutchison, The Austin Gastronomist
But the Food Bank is still in need of assistance. Now is the time to lend a hand and help CAFB get Souper Bowl of Caring donations out the door and into the bellies of Austin’s hungry. You can help by volunteering – just visit CAFB’s volunteer page and register for a work day or evening.
– Michelle Fandrich, The Kid Can Cook
Further reading:
Thank you for including a link to our story at Notes from Maggie’s Farm. It was such a pleasure to work with you all, and I encourage those looking for a team building event to consider giving back, as well as getting back. I’m toting a group of women from our local church 80 miles southeast to do just that.
Loved everyone’s posts. What a great group of peeps I’m a part of. ; }