Pictures of SHARE

My apologies if these aren't the best pictures of SHARE. Hopefully, they'll give you a little idea what the organization is like.

This is a picture of the SHARE warehouse in Bladensburg, Maryland. The warehouse is quite big with 5 loading bays, a drive-in freezer and a drive-in chiller (to keep fruits and vegetables fresh during the hot summer months). The parking lot here offers a good bit of parking except during Distribution Fridays and Saturdays when it can become very congested due to people from various organizations picking up their orders. Other times, you'll see truckers delivering food orders. Also, this is where volunteers help bag various food items.

This is a picture of one of the volunteers working at SHARE and one of the tables they use to bag various food items. Volunteers play a crucial part in helping SHARE keep the price of the food packages down. They supply the labor to bag potatoes, rice, pasta, 16 bean soup mix and other items. By them bagging these various items, SHARE doesn't have to farm out the work and can pass the savings on to those buying the food packages. This is one of the ways SHARE is able to keep the cost of their food packages so low.

This is a picture that shows a small amount of the food SHARE handles. SHARE will distribute during its two distribution days over 700 cases of chicken alone!

This last picture shows you some of the banners of the various organizations that support SHARE. While the primary organization that funds SHARE is Catholic Charities of the Roman Catholic Church, numerous organizations of different faiths and non-religious organizations such as United Airlines and the Midshipman's Association of the U.S. Naval Academy support SHARE as well. SHARE isn't about one particular faith. It is about helping people in need be able to buy the food they need so they can eat. As far as I know, any organization that becomes a sponsor of SHARE can have their banner put on the wall of honor (if you will) where all can see that they support SHARE. The items you see stacked against the wall are food items that will be distributed on Distribution Friday and Saturday. This picture was taken three days before Distribution Friday and the people at SHARE were already getting ready for their two busiest days of the month.

Work permitting, I hope to get down to SHARE again sometime so I can get some pictures of the SHARE staff. They are the people who make SHARE happen. There's Ollie who is the food guru. He is the one searches for the best buys on various items, arranges delivery and keeps track of all the invoices. There is Ninotchka who manages the various volunteer groups who help out at SHARE. There is Chris who works community outreach, briefs organizations about SHARE and how they can become a sponsor. There is Jingle who also works with volunteers and is always a source of encouragement and welcome. She isn't called Jingle for nothing. There is also Henry the money man, Debbie (I'm not sure what she does), another lady whose name I can't remember and a new guy who helps run the warehouse. Lastly, there is Sam who used to run the warehouse but has moved on to bigger and better things. Sam still helps out at SHARE and was responsible for getting me to volunteer last week. Few people know the management of the warehouse like Sam does.

If you're interested in SHARE or would like more information about the organization, their website is: http://www.sharedc.org. If you might be interested in ordering one of their excellent food packages, SHARE has a link on their webpage where you can find one of their sponsors that you can order a package from. You can also drive to the warehouse on distribution days and pick one up directly. If you have any questions about SHARE, please leave a comment and I'll do my best to answer the question. If I don't know the answer, I'll contact the folks at SHARE and get you the answer.

Just a reminder, I'm not directly affiliated with SHARE. I'm only an occasional volunteer at SHARE as well as someone who has bought some of their food packages. As you can tell by my posts on SHARE, I am supportive of the organization. I feel they provide an invaluable service to communities throughout Northern Virginia, Maryland and Washington D.C. Cheers!