Volunteer

Become a Volunteer and Make an Impact in Our Community!

Volunteering at the Westchester Food Pantry can be a very rewarding experience. You will make new friends, be part of a team, and improve your community by assisting your neighbors in need.

There is an assortment of volunteering positions at the Pantry, which can be explored further below. It is essential that volunteers possess the ability to work amiably with a diverse clientele in a non-judgmental and compassionate manner. Any personal information of the clients is kept confidential, and every individual at the Pantry is treated with the utmost respect and dignity.

Please contact the Westchester Food Pantry, if you have any questions. 

Volunteer at Westchester Food Pantry

Seasonal Volunteer Opportunity

Yard Sale Donation Drop-Off Day


Volunteer for the Donation Drop-Off Day on April 1 – some 11AM to 2PM slots are open. 
Spring weather means yard sale season is upon us, and for the Westchester Food Pantry that means … THE YARD SALE!  Each year, people donate their unwanted but totally fabulous items to our sale. Bonus: volunteers working at the Donation Drop-Off Days can buy items as they see them.  No need to wait until the Yard Sale Extravaganza. See something you like while sorting items? Buy it right then and there!

EMAIL CLAUDIA GABEL

Year-Round Volunteer Opportunities

Sign Up Genius: For many volunteering opportunities, the Pantry is now using Sign Up Genius.

Sign Up Genius

The Pantry is now using Sign Up Genius for many of its volunteering opportunities. Thus, you will need to create a ‘sign up’ account to volunteer. It is free and very easy to do.

  • Sign Up Genius will automatically send a reminder three days before your volunteer shift.
  • If you are signing up for more than one person, please note that on the Sign Up Genius. If you are volunteering with children, please note their ages.
  • If you need to cancel your shift, please do it through Sign Up Genius. That way another potential volunteer will see the opening and be able to fill in.
  • If you need help with setting up an account or have questions, please email the Pantry.

For the past few years, the Pantry sent reminder emails every week to our Friday crews: set-up, food reclamation, client service, etc. But, keeping track of all the emails, spreadsheets, service hours, absences and week switches has become very difficult and has led to some scheduling mix-ups, i.e. too many volunteers one week, too few the next. To be respectful of all our volunteers’ time and experience at the Pantry, and to make things easier for everyone, the move was made to Sign Up Genius.

March Sign Up
April Sign Up

Receiving Crew

The 1st and 3rd Fridays of every month, typically between 8am – 10am. This crew receives our orders from the GCFD. It involves taking heavy boxes of cans, meat and produce from GCFD pallets into the pantry. These volunteers must have the ability to lift and move heavy items. Please provide your phone number if you are signing up for this slot, as sometimes the truck may be early or delayed. And, we will let you know when it arrives.

Food Sorting, Shelving & Setup

Every Wednesday afternoon from 1-3pm, and every Friday afternoon from Noon-2pm. This crew receives food reclamation, sorts, puts everything away, packs bags of food for client services, restocks shelves, and sets up and organizes client choice items. A few folks who can do heavy lifting are needed for this shift, but otherwise all ability levels are fine.

Client Services

Every Wednesday from 4-7pm and every Saturday from 8:30-11:30am. This crew helps the clients “shop” for a variety of items; this is called “client choice”. Some of their packaged & canned groceries have previously been bagged, and just need to be loaded into shopping carts. Once the client is ready, this crew brings their groceries outside in the shopping carts and loads them into client vehicles. A few folks who can do heavy lifting are needed for this shift. Otherwise, all ability levels are fine.

Registration

Every Wednesday from 4-7pm and every Saturday from 8:30-11:30am. This particular role is limited to volunteers who have been trained on our Link2Feed registration system. If you would like to learn this system in order to volunteer for this role, please reach out to the pantry’s Executive Director, Amanda Grant, to arrange for training.
Contact Amanda Grant

Food Reclamation

During the week, primarily Fridays and Wednesdays from approximately 11:00 am – 1:00 pm, volunteers go to predetermined stores to pick up food that is no longer sell-able for a variety of reasons, but still perfectly fine to eat. We have a huge need for food reclamation volunteers. Our pantry gets a great deal of fresh food through these food reclamation efforts, and all the food is given out to clients during distribution. You will need a larger, reliable vehicle and be able to lift/load up to 20 pounds. We only ask our volunteers to commit to one reclamation day of the same week each month. Please provide the model of your vehicle when contacting the pantry.
Sign Up Now

Fundraisers

Throughout the year, the Pantry gets involved with fundraisers that raise much needed funds in order to serve our clients.  These events include the Souper Bowl (beginning of February),  Yard Sale Extravaganza (beginning of June), Fourth of July Parade, Westchester Fun Fest (August),  Greater Chicago Food Depository Hunger Walk (September), and Jewel Holiday Bucks (November).  In order for these fundraisers to be successful, we need lots of motivated volunteers.
Inquire Now

Outreach

Everyone we meet is a potential client, volunteer or donor which is why outreach events are so important! We want to meet everyone, because everyone has a place at the Pantry.  We need volunteers who are confident talking about the Pantry – how to get food, how to volunteer and how everyone can get involved.  The Pantry participates in numerous outreach events throughout the year. 

Sign Up Now

Westchester Food Pantry proudly serves the communities of Bellwood, Berkeley, Broadview, Hillside, Hines, La Grange Park, Westchester, and Western Springs.

Get Food
Donate
Volunteer

Visit Us

1938 South Mannheim Road
Westchester, IL 60154
Get Directions »

Hours

Wednesday 4:30pm–7pm
Saturday 9am–11am

Reach Out

(708) 927-4826
Send Us a Message »

Facebook-f Instagram

Member Agency #A01529

EIN # 47-5376704

Translate / Traducir