Volunteers

We are hosting a week of Volunteer Drop-In Days!

For those looking to lend a hand in their community, now has never been a better time. We’ve seen a dramatic increase in the number of individuals served in the food pantry. More than 800 individuals received food from the pantry in the first two weeks of 2019, compared with 510 during the same time period last year.

“We’ve seen quite an increase this month in the number of clients requesting food from our pantry,” said our Executive Director Rick Doane. “Clients are anxious about the government shutdown and how it may affect their benefits. They are worried about how to feed their families. Our pantry waiting room has been full every day this month.”

We’re able to serve clients through a volunteer force of more than 100 individuals, and we need additional help as demand from the community increases. During the Volunteer Drop-In Days, YOU – members of our community – are invited to try out a volunteer shift in the food pantry.

Those interested in volunteering should arrive at Interfaith, 105 Adams St., Quincy, at either 9:30am or noon for a three-hour volunteer shift any day, Monday, Jan, 28 – Friday, Feb. 1.

Volunteers will be required to fill out a CORI background check and registration form. You should be able to be on your feet for the duration of the shift and lift up to 50 pounds. Excellent customer service and communication skills are required. Volunteers must be 16 years of age or older.

The week-long Drop-In Days event will allow volunteers to get a feel for what it is like serving local residents in need by filling grocery orders for clients and restocking the food pantry shelves. Interfaith hopes that many of the volunteers who drop in will be interested in committing to an ongoing three-hour volunteer shift per week.

Those interested in volunteering at Interfaith Social Services are encouraged to contact volunteer coordinator Paula Daniels at 617-773-6203 ext. 28 or pdaniels@interfaithsocialservices.org. Or just stop by the Volunteers Drop-In Days event at 9:30am or noon between Monday, Jan., 28 and Friday, Feb. 1. See you there!

We welcomed the newest slate of Hall of Fame volunteers last Thursday at Interfaith’s Volunteer Appreciation Night, while also thanking and recognizing all the hard work of our amazing volunteers.

Staff, board members, members of our event committees and many of our wonderful volunteers gathered June 14, at the Quincy Elks Lodge for an evening of food, trivia, raffles and awards. This annual event allows us to give back to those who give so generously of themselves to our organization throughout the year.

We kicked things off with a delicious catered dinner from That’s Tasty, which included Chicken Piccata, Roasted Eggplant and Marinated Sirloin Tips.

Then we moved on to the raffle, where lucky winners walked away with restaurant gift cards, Starbucks goodies, Fruit Center gift cards, movie tickets and more.

Paula inducted 25 new members into our Matti Lang Hall of Fame. The Matti Lang Volunteer Hall of Fame is named after one of Interfaith’s most dedicated volunteers who gave decades of his life selflessly serving Interfaith’s clients. The honor of being inducted into the Hall of Fame is bestowed upon volunteers who have been serving within the organization regularly for at least the last year.

Congratulations to our 2018 inductees!

• Jean Accorsini
• Rosalyn Baker-Greene
• Linda Baumeister
• Jeanne Butts
• Casey Cameron
• Stephen Coady
• Terry Donovan
• Joyce Feeney
• Angela Fleming
• Gillian Grossman
• Pam Harty
• Judy Kiley
• Sarah Livermore
• Peter Lung
• Jay Marvin
• Ariana McBride
• Katie McEvoy
• Susan Moorhead
• Jean Murphy
• Alex Prager
• Dea Semini
• Anita Siwy-Knight
• Christine Swanson
• Gail Valles
• Ellen Walsh

In addition to the Volunteer Hall of Fame, we also honored our 2018 Community Partner of the Year, Arbella Insurance. This award is specifically for businesses or organizations that have demonstrated an exemplary commitment to volunteerism. Arbella’s efforts to instill a culture of service and community engagement among their employees have made a measurable impact on Interfaith and those we serve.

This is the first year that Interfaith has honored a business with this award and there was no question the Arbella should be the first recipient. Arbella has partnered with Interfaith for at least two decades, making them our single longest corporate partner. Last year alone, Arbella’s employees gave us close to 500 hours of their time. They helped in the food pantry, distributed Thanksgiving meals and holiday gifts to clients, set up for our Feed the Hungry Gala and our Stop the Stigma 5K, worked in our garden and processed large mailings. In addition, 22 of their employees walked or ran in our Stop the Stigma 5K. We are so grateful for the philosophy of giving and service that Arbella cultivates in their offices. Beverly Tangvik and Jennifer Reale accepted the award on behalf of Arbella.

We ended the night with a spirited round of trivia. Tables competed against each other for bragging rights and Target gift cards. Do you know the answers to these stumpers?

1. How many James Bond films are there?
2. Name the top three TV/streaming shows for the 2017/18 season.
3. How many bags of clothing were donated to the Bureau Drawer Thrift Shop last year?

(Answers at the end of this post.)

Congratulations to “The Two Bills” table, this year’s trivia winners!

Volunteers left with six-packs of mini cupcakes from Sadie Mae’s Cupcake Cafe in Hingham.

A big thank you again to all our volunteers, who give tirelessly in serving their communities. Interfaith wouldn’t exist without you!

Trivia answers: 1) 25
2) Game of Thrones, Stranger Things, The Walking Dead
3) 9,441

Linda Greene has been volunteering at Interfaith Social Services for the past few months. She volunteers on Wednesday of each week in Interfaith’s Food Pantry and our Bureau Drawer Thrift Shop. In the morning she assembles food orders for clients in the food pantry and in the afternoon she sorts, tags and displays donated items in the Thrift Shop. Linda also helped to assemble hundreds of Easter Baskets for Interfaith’s clients this spring.

Linda began volunteering at Interfaith when she saw various newspaper articles detailing the work that Interfaith does in the community. She stopped by their office to ask if she could be of any service.

Linda encourages people to volunteer because she believes that “…we all need to help out people in need.” She loves volunteering so much that she has even brought her mom once or twice as well as her husband, Steve, who helped in the Food Pantry during the Easter season. Even as a first time volunteer Steve felt comfortable and said it was a great experience.

When asked what she likes most about volunteering at Interfaith, Linda responded, “I like to be able to help the community. It’s a nice way to give back, and it’s a comfortable place to be. My favorite experience has been seeing the appreciation of clients.”

When she’s not volunteering or babysitting her two grandchildren, Linda enjoys teaching children as a literacy specialist and she loves to bowl.

Thank you for your service Linda, as well as the hundreds of other amazing volunteers who together donated over 19,000 hours of service at Interfaith last year!