The end of April was National Volunteer Appreciation Week, and while my public expression may be a little late, it is ever-present and acknowledged year-round with my fellow Whitehall-Coplay Hunger Initiative pantry volunteers.

We receive frequent compliments on our pantry and hear that our guests feel comfortable coming to us for food. Whenever there’s a large operation running smoothly, it’s a good sign that many people can work well together. It takes many hands cooperating to have this positive outcome.

We are a 100% volunteer-operated pantry, and we are always welcoming new people to our volunteer team. There are a variety of different jobs for different abilities, so those who want to participate can find what works for them.

Our greatest need for help is on food distribution days — 9 a.m.-1 p.m. and 4:30-7 p.m. the second and third Thursdays of each month. This requires a friendly ability to interact with people. We also love volunteers who can speak other languages.

We schedule up to six guest appointments every 10 minutes, so there are many time slots for volunteers to help our guests through the food shopping pantry experience. We usually ask for two- or three-hour shifts. However, we are always happy for any amount of time that someone is willing to help.

After our guests check in and register, shoppers walk the guests through our pantry with a grocery cart and help them select items based on the number of people in their household. It takes about 15 minutes to walk someone through our aisles and make their selections.

At the end of the shopping process, we have a need for cart pushers who are strong enough to push the heavy grocery cart up a ramp and into the parking lot. The groceries are put in our guest’s car, and the cart is returned to the pantry to restart the process with the next guest.

WCHI has been serving more than 340 households each month, which means we move a lot of inventory. Another volunteer position is restocking our racks on distribution days. Moving cases of items from our storage area onto our grocery racks in the front of our pantry requires both a little muscle and bending, with the assistance of wheeled grocery carts.

We obtain much of our inventory from Second Harvest Food Bank. On most Wednesdays, we need volunteers to help unload our truck around midday. We use a combination of a human chain system and a roller belt to help us move inventory downstairs into the pantry storage area.

The two Wednesdays each month that precede distribution are days when lighter work is available for people who can help down-pack produce. We often receive onions, carrots and potatoes, each in 50-pound bags, which need to be packed into small grocery bags for each household to take. We also occasionally need to sort and date-check donated food items before putting them on our shelves. This work is done in advance and helps us keep things moving quickly Thursdays.

The instructions for completing the necessary paperwork and clearances can be found on our website at whitehallcoplayhungerinitiative.org. If you are interested, please reach out with any questions.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Editor’s note: This column was written by Jenn Dietz, Healthy Pantry Initiative chair and pantry co-manager.