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!

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!