On Saturday from 9:00 am – 12:00 pm, the Roslyn AYLUS Branch volunteered at NOSH delivers! Food Pantry.
When volunteers arrived at Nosh Delivers food pantry in Glen Cove, we were greeted by the adult staff and volunteers. We were directed to do “shelf guiding” today, in which volunteers guide those in need along the shelves where they pick out canned goods and foodstuffs. Some volunteers did shelf guiding, while others were stationed at the “farmers market,” where they handed out fresh produce, such as fresh vegetables, eggs, milk, yogurt, fruits, meats, and bread. After this, we would sometimes help to carry the grocery bags to the cars as some senior citizens can’t carry the heavy bags by themselves and ask us for help. In addition, we also helped to restock and organize the shelves when the food inventories are running low.
One of the challenges we experienced was that many of the people we were helping did not speak English. Some of them can only speak Spanish. A few adult volunteers can speak Spanish were happy to help guide them. For those of us who did not speak the language, we used hand gestures to point out what items they wanted, and by using body language to communicate with them proved to be very effective and the process went smoothly and quickly.
Overall I’ve learned that through our volunteer service at the food pantry, there are so many families who are in need of food. Toward the end of the shift, there was already a shortage of food on the shelf such as Tacos and white rice, these were really popular items! Nosh Delivers food pantry serves an important role in the community and it was a great experience to help those in need.
Members who participated includes (3 hours):
1. Yang Amy Wu
2. Miles Hu (reporter)
3. Charlotte Wu
4. Aidan Yuen
5. Jaden Zhang
