Time. It's one of the most precious assets we have. Even while some of our time (well, my time anyways) is used to binge watch The Great British Baking Show - the tips!!! - or Somebody Feed Phil - it is the Ted Lasso of Anthony Bourdains...my time is incredibly important to me. 

The food bank is amazingly lucky in the respect that there is a moderate and mighty group of people who, on a regular basis, give to us their time. They do so freely and without any expectation of repayment in any tangible form. It was their idea to do in the first place, for the vast majority of them. They are our Volunteers. 

The Franklin Food Bank would have shuttered its doors a long long time ago, were it not for the force of our volunteers lifting us up, sometimes carrying us entirely. We have had (still do!) absolute gems to help run our programs. Because of the magnetism of the food bank, our Volunteers aren't usually one-and-done folks, they stick around for the long haul. Even our Executive Director, Derek Smith, was once a Volunteer! 

It wasn't too long ago that we shared with you a shift in our program. From the darkness of the pandemic we crawled into our bright new shiny Client Choice Market - and with it a new age of volunteers! We found ourselves in need of the computer savvy, the smiling faces, the meticulous organizers, the produce gurus...I could go on. 

We chipped away at the list of people we needed, people willing to give us their time. We filled the shifts. And boy are we so grateful. Thank You, Thank You, Thank You volunteers. 

Now - always the scientists - we have once again reimagined our needs in light of our ever changing program and the surrounding landscape of a community need. The conclusion we have come to? We need more volunteers. We especially need more volunteers who can communicate in more than one language.

This Township is a fabulous, incredible melting pot of cultures and languages. It's why we wanted to launch Client Choice in the first place! To honor all the wonderful cultures and food traditions celebrated in the homes of our neighbors in need. To do that, we have got to be able to interact with our neighbors more gracefully. Beginning NOW, we are seeking even more volunteers to add to our current list of entirely AMAZING people - particularly those who are bilingual. We want the word for Welcome written on our walls in as many languages as possible, in both the literal and figurative sense.  Can you help? 

The easiest way would be to take a moment right now and have a good think. Do you know someone who is bilingual? Works remotely? A youth who is about to have commitments for volunteering hours? An empty nester? Send them this email and say - hey. If you're looking for a place to gift your time, the food bank will make you proud to be a part of them.