Parent volunteers in the Beaverton School District participated for the first time last year in the 5-year-old Metro initiative, Fork It Over! The program encourages food donations to reduce hunger and waste. The district relies on volunteers to pick up leftover cafeteria food that might normally be tossed and delivering them to area pantries four times a week from 42 schools. Carol Garzillo, one of the volunteer coordinators, said she recently signed up for three routes, or about nine to 10 schools in one day, because there are a lot of needy families in the community who could benefit from ready-to-eat items.
Please tell us a little about yourself and your current role as a volunteer leader.
I have two children ages 13 and 10 and I am involved in their schools as a volunteer. My volunteer efforts have now expanded to the community and I participate in this project with three other wonderful women.How did you get interested in becoming a volunteer leader?
I lost my job last December and was fortunate enough to attend President Obama’s inauguration in January. It was an amazing experience and I was moved by his plea for people to get involved in their community. I have always been involved in my children’s schools, but this was a different calling. I received an email from our district offices to see if I would be able to volunteer to drive food to a pantry on the last day of school before spring break. It was so easy that I spoke with our contact in the Beaverton School district and suggested we need to do this full time. It started small last spring and has evolved into a huge volunteer effort. We collect food from 49 schools and deliver to 4 different food pantries. It has been an incredibly rewarding project and a simple way to make a difference.
Where else do you volunteer?
At my children’s schools. I just finished chairing a cookie dough fundraiser for the PTO at my son’s middle school. We raised $3,500. I am also planning the winter party for my daughter’s 5th grade class. I wish I could expand our Fork It Over program to other school districts in our area because the need is huge right now and the waste is so profound.
What is it, specifically, that you need volunteers to do?
Our volunteers pick up food that is already boxed up from school cafeterias and deliver to a designated local pantry. It is really that simple. We have divided the district into routes and each route has no more than three schools. The volunteer effort takes no more than an hour and the gas in your car.
How do you inspire others to volunteer?
Most of the communication has been via email. It has not been that hard as this is a community of people who want to be involved and want to make a difference. I asked a group of people to ask their friends and so on. We have advertised in neighborhood newsletters, our PTO newsletters, widespread email distribution from the district office, and we have had two articles written in our local paper which had a huge impact. Those are simply our means of communication – the inspiration comes from those who listen to their heart and want to make a difference.
What's one piece of advice you have for other volunteers organizers out there?
If you see a need don’t be afraid, just jump in and go for it. It will be more rewarding than the effort you will put into it.
Why did you decide to use VolunteerSpot?
It was recommended to me from a friend who attends the same church as I do. The church ministry was using it to coordinate volunteers. We reviewed the video segments on how easy it is and we were hooked. Last spring I was scheduling volunteers for 13 schools and I was doing it manually via email and a spreadsheet. It was very challenging and took a lot of time. Once we got everything set up and procedures finalized the rest has been fairly easy. VolunteerSpot is fantastic to work with and has allowed us to expand the program district wide to 49 schools. We now manage over 100 volunteers with the calendar. It has been an amazing tool for us and one that has allowed us to expand the program. It would not have been possible with out VolunteerSpot.
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We salute Carol W. Garzillo and all the volunteer heroes out there working for our communities! If you're using VolunteerSpot, write and tell us about what you're doing, and give us a chance to shine our Volunteer Spotlight on you!! Just email us at VS@volunteerspot.com.
I participated in this Fork It Over program last spring and was thrilled to be able to help move perishable food to pantries that could use it. This is such an easy and fast volunteer option. Thanks for including it on the site. I haven't been contacted again for more volunteering during the school year though and would probably be able to help out some more.
Posted by: Linda Cohen | January 13, 2010 at 11:26 PM