Sorting Food

When I went back to the food bank I was again unsure of what I was going to do. This time when I went there was an ODU sports team I believe men's tennis but they was fun to volunteer with and their coach was funny. The sorting room is not very big so you can image the team which had 9 men, one other girl, and me we was constantly bumping into each other with our carts.

As we entered the sorting room Angel explained how food was still good for at least a year after its sell buy date there are somethings the food bank will not keep after the date its baby food, pet food, and things like aspirin and Tylenol.

He then went on to explain that even though  canned food may look damaged it might not be. Cans can have dents in it everywhere but as long as there is not a crease that has a sharp point either on top of the can, bottom of the can, or sides of the can than it is still good. He explained that when the can has a crease/dent that bad usually it means that air has gotten into it and been contaminated and may poison someone. he showed us some examples of cans that you would think are bad but they actually wasn't and then showed us the bad cans which some did not look that bad.

He then went on to boxes of food. He was saying how the box could be completely destroyed or even open it could still be good. This is how you check first you must be able to see the best buy date if you can not find it or you can find it but cant understand what it says then the box is to be thrown away there is no if ands or buts about it second flip it upside down and if nothing comes out than the box is good if there is even a small teeny tiny amount than that means there is a hole somewhere and it must be thrown out. Again he showed us examples of both.

In the middle of the floor is boxes stacked on top of each other and this is what needs to be sorted this food comes from donations made by the general public and stores but have not been sorted through and this was our job. All around there are metal baskets that are labeled with what is suppose to go inside of them and they was in alphabetical order to make it easier. Once these metal baskets are full than someone wheels them into another room into a spot that is designated for this type of food. You got the food from the boxes to the metal baskets with a shopping cart that was donated for this purpose.

Again Angel made sure everyone was comfortable and gave them water when they needed it. He played music which put you in the mood to move and if anyone was unsure of something he was available for questions and made sure he answered them as correctly as he could.

After awhile and again time went by quick Angel gave us a tour of the building. He explained how they obtain grants what they are used for and showed us the crates and crates of food that was donated which did not need to be separated because that was all that was in them.

He took us to the freezer which was freezing of course and showed us the food in their and explained the temps that it needed to be. They do get inspected frequently because of their cause. we then went to the dairy room and that is where the milk and things that need to be refrigerated are it kinda looked like a mini grocery store. then we went to the room where the meats are cleaned, cut, and packaged wow that room was clean of course no one was in there when we got there. He explained how the room was used and cleaned major sanitation in there and you could tell.

Throughout this whole tour he was explaining what programs they had how it worked and when. He showed us where the food for kids is cooked and explained how they needed more food because there is not enough.

That's when I realized I need to do more so I started my own garden very little for the beginning and everything that is grown will be donated to the food bank I will not use anything from it. I want to start donating money because $1=3 meals or close to 6 bags of grocery's I do not have alot of money so I will start off small but every week I will give at least $1.

I am going to hold a food drive once I am done with school and op-sail because those are very time consuming and want all my time to be focused on the food drive so i would say late june early july I will begin it. I still plan to volunteer and help out as much as possible.