SHARE

I helped out at the Washington D.C. SHARE (Self Help and Resource Exchange) yesterday. It was the first time I'd been there in probably three months. Due to work at the Post Office and Medieval Times, I haven't been able to get down there to help out. I did the job I first did when I arrived at SHARE (3 or 4 years ago?). I bagged potatoes. What you do is break down 50-pound sacks of potatoes into 3-pound bags of potatoes. The 3-pound bags are part of the monthly food package SHARE sells. Potatoes seem to be a staple of the package. I suspect it's because they can be used in so many different ways. You can boil, bake, fry and mash potatoes. You can also include them in soups. They're a very versatile vegetable. The amount of potatoes SHARE handles is impressive. I would guess it's at least 5,000 pounds.

Volunteer wise, the largest group was from Prince Georges County Department of Correction. I was impressed with the group as they kept at it and did a good job. The table I was at had two elderly church going ladies. I enjoyed chatting with them. It helped make the time go by Groups of volunteers come from all over Washington D.C. and Baltimore. They come from churches, schools (a lot of high school students do their community service at SHARE) and organizations. I first got involved when I was on active duty with the Air Force. The volunteers are vital to SHARE as it would be impossible to run the program without them. The SHARE staff has only 9 people who have to keep track of all the volunteers, keep the books, do community outreach, seek funding (SHARE is a non-profit that relies on donations as much as the money they make through the food packages they sell), decide what items to include in the package and then organize delivery (Ollie does this) and keep the five warehouses as well as the freezer and chiller clean. It's a massive undertaking.

Volunteering at SHARE can be fun. You meet nice people and you help the community. I very much enjoyed chatting with the two elderly ladies I met. The program itself helps considerably the poor stretch their food dollars so they can have enough to eat. It also covers a wide area. The program reaches Northern Virginia, all of Washington D.C. and Baltimore. If you have some free time and would like to help a worthwhiled organization, you might want to give SHARE a try. Their website is http://www.sharedc.org. If you want to see what SHARE looks like, stay tuned to this blog as I took a few pictures which I plan to post later. Cheers!