Volunteer

Volunteer with Harvest from the Heart!

Since 2007 Chef Ryan Scott, his family, friends and whole lot of volunteers have worked hard every year to provide a bagged lunch to thousands of homeless, marginally housed and those less fortunate people of San Francisco.

We would like to thank all of the countless volunteers over the years that have helped make this annual day of giving a wonderful and rewarding experience for all. We appreciate the huge amount of work contributed by each and every person as the efforts have not gone unnoticed. Harvest from the Heart could not accomplish all that we need to without your valuable contribution of time, energy and humanitarian efforts. Thank you!

As we prepare for this Thanksgiving Day we need your help again. We are scheduling people to help in the kitchen for several days leading up to Thanksgiving Day in order to fully prepare for the bagged lunches we intend to provide.

So those of you who are unable to volunteer on Thanksgiving Day for any reason will still have options to contribute your time in a meaningful way. Perhaps, you wish to do a sock drive in your community so we have the pairs of socks (preferably black) to pack up. Maybe, you would like your children’s schools to help out with the handmade holiday cards we bag up with the socks and beverages. Please contact our volunteer coordinator immediately to discuss these options.

Here’s how you can help out this year during the week of Thanksgiving...

Food Prep and Cooking Every volunteer shift leading up to Thanksgiving Day will be filled with kitchen duties from peeling, chopping, slicing and dicing. We will prepare in advance those food items that we can then store for easy assembly on that Thursday. Each shift will have a limited number of volunteers.

Assembling Food, Packing the Lunch Bags and Loading Trucks On Thanksgiving Day there will be a volunteer shift devoted solely to assembling the food to be packaged, packaging it up safely, preparing the bagged lunches then loading the trucks. We will have some set up and clean up during this shift as well. This will be in the first half of the day. This shift will have a limited number of volunteers.

Bagging Socks, Beverages & Handmade Holiday Cards for Distribution Along with bagged lunches we distribute brand new socks, handmade holiday cards along with a beverage. The early morning shift on Thanksgiving Day includes this task. We try to reserve this for the children who want to help out, but also need to have adults helping right along with them. PLEASE NOTE: All children under 18 years of age who are going to volunteer MUST be at least 10 years of age AND accompanied by a parent/legal guardian.

Delivering Bagged Lunches One Thanksgiving Day there is also a volunteer shift which will be for delivering the bagged lunches in San Francisco. How the meals are delivered and dispersed is a coordinated effort on the part of Harvest from the Heart. The delivery volunteers will be directed where to go which makes this process go more smoothly. If you are volunteering to assemble food in the morning and want to help with delivery, you must sign up for this shift separately. This shift will have a limited number of volunteers.

Setting Up and Cleaning Up We found it works best when we have a team of people designated to helping with both set up and clean. We need the largest teams, especially for clean up, on Thanksgiving Day. As the wonderful kitchen space is donated for our use we always want to keep it in great shape before we leave to celebrate our own holidays.

Other Duties We Need Help With So maybe you are not the Top Chef Wannabe that some of us are. We could still use your help especially in the time leading up to all of the Thanksgiving week efforts. Maybe you could help us out in the office, maybe you have some great contacts for possible donations of food or even money, or marketing ideas may be your specialty. If you have a special skill and want to help us out in some way besides the meals, contact the volunteer coordinator. We will find some way to let you volunteer your time with us.

Each shift is space limited. Once we have reached capacity your name will be added to the wait list for the shift you want. You will also be offered space in one of the other shifts if there is room still. Once you are confirmed on a shift you will be sent details specific to that shift. If you are working on more than one shift, you will be sent separate emails pertaining to each shift. Please not that the details vary depending on the day so please read the entire e-mail.

You will learn the location in that detailed e-mail with all the other instructions. The San Francisco kitchen where we work is on loan to us so we do not want them being contacted with inquiries meant for us. We also need people to sign up ahead of time and not just show up as we have agreements about numbers of people per shift as well as the strict age minimums for children helping us out. All confirmed volunteers will get all the information needed in plenty of time prior to the shift they signed up for. Thank you.

Email us for additional information or if you have questions.

Thank you for helping us bring a meal to those in need.