Intro: Many young people are encouraged or required to participate in a service project as part of their coming of age rituals with their school, synagogue, church, or religious/cultural institution. We at Food Forward, welcome youth to learn more about our work and get directly involved in our mission to harvest food, fight hunger, and build community! Below are minimum guidelines we require for participants seeking to base their service/religious school projects (i.e. bar/bat mitzvahs, confirmation, high school graduation requirements, etc.) with Food Forward.
1) Candidates must write a 200-400 word letter or email to Food Forward explaining their interest in becoming involved, what they hope to learn from the experience, and specific goals and date requirements for the project. Please send to max[at]foodforward[dot]org. All participants will be notified within a 2 week period whether Food Forward can help fufil their project request.
2) Participants must volunteer for at least three fruit picks with Food Forward.
3) Participants must shadow a pick leader on one fruit pick. By shadowing the pick leader, participants have the opportunity to ride in the Food Forward van to both prepare equipment to a pick and return it to the warehouse. In order to experience the whole gleaning process, following the pick the participant will accompany the pick leader to the food pantry and deliver the harvested fruit.
4) To complete the experience, participants must find a property and schedule and complete their own pick (for family and friends or members of their community). Each participant will work with the Volunteer Coordinator to coordinate the logistics for this harvest, and may select the recipient agency from our roster.
5) Should a speech or presentation be required by the participant to his or her congregation/community, a Food Forward team member will be available to assist him/her edit the speech and help describe the program and their specific involvement in it.
The entire experience involves approximately 12 hours of service work. Participants are encouraged to become as involved as they’d like, but as a minimum, must complete the above tasks for involvement. Participants are free to ask questions about the work Food Forward does, and are welcome to learn about every step of the process in fighting hunger in Southern California. Food Forward can arrange an even more in-depth experience, such as additional volunteering at food pantries, if the participant so pleases. Upon finishing the participant will receive a certificate of completion.
If you are interested in starting a project, have questions or want to learn more, please contact max@foodforward.org.
*NOTE: Upon completing their service project, as a way of acknowledging the staff/organizational resources allotted to your service project by our non-profit,, all participants or participant families are requested to make a monetary tax-deductible donation to Food Forward. Amounts are left to the discretion of participants and their families.
