When an organization’s mission statement starts with the phrase “To end hunger” you know you’re dealing with a focused group of people focused on eliminating hunger. To say that the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County makes an impact is an understatement.

Working with over 300 community partners, Second Harvest feeds the hungry through Orange County at 440 locations.

“There are many people that are just a paycheck away from having to ask for help ,” states Barbara Wartman, Director of Marketing and Public Relations at Second Harvest. “Without a whole lot of volunteers, the food bank could not complete its mission.”

“Food that comes in, we need to make sure it’s safe for people to eat. Volunteers look at the packaging to make sure it’s not open, food is not out of date… then it goes to another level of volunteers who are trained in food safety. We make sure whatever is put out is safe,” she says.

Over 40% of the work at Second Harvest is performed by volunteers. And it seems that volunteering is catching on. “We have more and more people who are interested in helping out at the Food Bank. In the last 4 years, we’ve gone from 10,000 volunteers to over 18,000.”

They’ll need to keep that growing volunteer base to get to meet the needs for the next five years. In 2015, the Second Harvest Food Bank distributed “the equivalent of 19.8 million meals and in 5 years we hope to be closer to 30 million,” she notes.

Recently, Cambro volunteers had the opportunity to pitch in with some of that much-needed work. A look at the facility and volunteer efforts:

For more information on the Second Harvest Food Bank visit:

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For more information on Cambro Cares, please visit www.cambrocares.com.