I knew I wanted to make a difference in my community, but I didn’t know how. I spent hours searching the internet with no results because I wasn’t the right age, I didn’t have the right experience, or the hours didn’t fit with my schedule. I found out about Families4Families through my school, as the executive director Grace Moses graduated from Potomac a few years ago. I had heard about the organization before, but I wasn’t sure what working with F4F entailed.
After emailing Grace about how I could be involved, I truly began to understand the scope of how I could help my community by volunteering with food. Food insecurity is a very potent issue, as 1 in 10 people in the DC area face hunger.
As a student leader, I created content for F4F’s social media outlets. I also raised $2,245 and used the donations to buy groceries for families, which consist of food and other necessities.
The club I led partnered with 3 vetted nonprofit organizations. Hope and a Home empowers low income families in the DC Area to create stable homes. FAN (Fihankra Akoma Ntoaso) assists youth in foster care and creates an atmosphere of hope. Finally, LPTM (Life Pieces to Masterpieces) uses artistic expression to prepare African American boys and young men to transform their communities.
After buying the groceries, I and the members of the club I led assembled Bags of Basics and delivered them to the families.
Below, I have outlined 5 steps YOU can take to get involved in food security.
- Find reliable organizations in your area. I highly recommend Families4Families, which has chapters all over the nation! You can start a chapter if one does not exist in your area.
- Find a point of contact in that organization and ask how you can get involved. For F4F, you can either organize grocery drives as a student leader, or participate in the drives by bringing groceries or other amenities to the drop site.
- Plan out your schedule and see what time frames work for you to donate your time and effort.
- Complete the tasks given to you by the organization. While volunteering with food security, try to learn as much as you can about the issue itself, the organization you are working with, and the people you are helping. Doing that gives so much more meaning to the experience.
- Reach out to others in your community to get them involved as well!
Volunteering to promote food security gave me a new perspective on my community, and I can’t wait for you to have the same experience.
