On Saturday, July 13th, from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm, the Roslyn Branch of AYLUS helped a community food drive called NOSH Delivers! by working at their food pantry to give out food and products to families who cannot afford them.
NOSH Delivers! was founded in March 2020 to bring food to local families impacted by the pandemic. They deliver weekly NOSH Bags, filled with nutritious groceries, to hundreds of families. Many families also now come to The NOSH Food Pantry, located behind 32 School Street in Glen Cove, to pick up their own groceries.
Today, volunteers helped the staff organize and prepare items to be given to people in need. These included moving meat into the freezers, checking the temperature of the freezers, giving out fruits and vegetables to shoppers, restocking the shelves, and filling bags with food to give out. We separated into two groups; one in the farmers market, giving out groceries to shoppers and leading them to the exit, while the other group laid out boxes of grains, cans, oil, and chili to prepare for separating the items so every family gets 1 of each. To do this most efficiently, we started an assembly line: four people moving back and forth, putting items in bags, one standing next to a shopping cart with all the bags, keeping track, and one delivering more items once they ran out. Once we were finished, we could fill 150 bags, all of which would be given out. The staff were very pleased with our work and even allowed us to take some of their bakery goods as a reward.
Working with the staff and other fellow volunteers, we all learned that teamwork and effective communication are crucial skills for effective work, and proper handling of food is very important. We also learned about how lucky we are to have food on our plates and how we should appreciate our financial stability. We hope to come back soon.
Members who participated include:
Zihan Wang (3 hours)
Brian Xiong (3 hours)
Eric Xiong (3 hours)
Elyse Jin (3 hours)
Adrian Jin (3 hours)
Reporter: Zihan Wang
