Hi! Thank you for volunteering your time to help out at Twin Lakes Food Bank. Please note that the produce stand is OUTSIDE, so please plan accordingly with the weather as you may have to BRAVE THE ELEMENTS.
Please wear close-toed shoes for your safety, and bring a reusable water bottle. Also, please plan to park at Mt. Olive Church located across the street from the food bank. Please park on the side that is NOT directly across the street from TLFB so it is easier for our guests to park closer.
ALSO, please review the following roles and responsibilities BEFORE you volunteer:
PRODUCE
(2-3 volunteers, 1 cart weigher, 8:30am start
First and foremost, treat people with kindness!
Set up at 8:00am:
• All produce needs to be rotated to ensure that the first item in is the first item out and that
product is not out of date. Utilize “FIFO”. FIFO stands for First In, First Out and is one of the most
common practices in food inventory management. This is when the stock that was first in should
be taken out first and used first. This will help ensure that the least amount of food will pass its
expiration date. FIFO helps with inventory tracking and to minimize food waste in the supply
chain.
• Check both refrigerators by registration area and both refrigerators in the warehouse. Remove
all boxes of produce from refrigerator.
• Check produce for freshness/quality and dates. Discard any rotten, expired, or severely damaged
produce in compost trashcan or spoilage trashcan.
• Produce from that morning’s Sam’s donations will be inspected by Operations Staff (Byron,
Lennie, Ericka) and Ops Help volunteers for freshness/quality and dates and then sorted into
refrigerated or non-refrigerated (according to sign on the wall near the walk-in freezer); they will
place a non-refrigerated pallet of produce under the tent each morning.
• Arrange produce onto baskets on tables. Use plastic tablecloths to not only protect the tables,
but also to make the area look aesthetically pleasing. Arrange organic/garden first (on far-right
tables), green leafy items, vegetables, potatoes, then fruits last.
• Set up pop-ups over produce area on hot days to keep sun off produce.
• Please do not throw produce into guests’ carts as this is demeaning and can damage good
produce.
During shift:
• As guest arrives, ask for their registration sheet to determine family size, then hand their
registration sheet to cart weigher.
• Make sure you are wearing gloves as you handle fruits and vegetables. Please do not allow
guests to handle produce. Try to provide quantity of produce based on family size.
• Cart weigher weighs cart at the end of the line, recording guest weight on registration sheet,
which is kept on clipboard at weigh station.
o If an AOW volunteer needs their cart weighed, note the weight and record on the Angels
on Wheels Log, located on a clipboard on the wall in the Guest Engagement
Coordinator’s office.
o If a POW volunteer needs their cart weighed, note the weight and record on the POW
Distribution Weight Log, located on a clipboard on the wall near the walk-in freezer.
o If a POP volunteer needs their cart weighed, note the weight and record on the
clipboard in the bagging room, outgoing tab.
21 12/14/2023
• When a spoilage trash can is full, please make sure to weigh it out and note the weight on the
clipboard in the bagging room, spoilage tab, circle “Dumpster (D).” If you don’t want to dump full
garbage cans or are too busy, please inform an Operations Staff (Byron, Lennie, Ericka) member.
We want to try to mitigate any bad odor or flying pests from the produce area as much as
possible.
• When a compost bin is full, please make sure to weigh it out and note the weight on the
clipboard in the bagging room, spoilage tab, “circle Garden Compost (GC).” Ask Operations Staff
(Byron, Lennie, Ericka) to find the Garden Manager or a garden volunteer to bring the bin over to
the garden to empty. Be mindful of the WEIGHT of the compost bin, not just how full it is.
Sometimes it can be only halfway full but is very heavy, depending on what has been dumped.
~85-100 pounds is the max, otherwise it's really difficult to haul out to the garden.
• Place empty plastic clamshells/containers in blue (residential size) bin for recycling.
• If you are running low on produce bags, notify Operations Staff (Byron, Lennie, Ericka) in
advance so we can order more. We can obtain these at no cost from SFB, but it takes a week or
two to arrive.
• If produce supply runs low, check refrigerators for produce that was picked up at a store today.
Close:
• At 12:30pm, start removing produce from tables. For items that are still quality, place perishable
produce in boxes back in the refrigerators. Place non-perishable produce items back on pallet.
• Do not place items that are not of good quality and that won’t be able to be distributed the next
day back in the boxes to be stored in the refrigerator. Discard of these items in the trash or
compost, as applicable. (Thursday volunteers have a different process-please see last bullet item)
• Wipe down all tablecloths and tables (daily); put in shed next to the produce tent along with
baskets.
• Put all tables back in the Big Barn.
• Sweep the produce area (daily).
• Cart Weigher: Deliver completed registration sheets to Guest Engagement Coordinator.
• For Thursday volunteers only: to set up tomorrow’s produce volunteers for success, sort
produce as you return them to boxes. Any produce that can’t be distributed on Friday due to
condition or date, place in a box and label each box “farmer” (labels can be found next to the
walk-in freezer) OR place a “farmer” sign on the pallet and place the pallet on the left-hand side
of the tent.
Thanks!
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