Category Volunteer News

Betsy smiling in front of orange background reading Volunteer spotlight hot seat

Volunteer Hot Seat – Betsy Vanleit

Welcome to Food Forward’s Hot Seat! Where we ask up to 10 rapid-fire questions to answer with only one word (or as few words as possible). Before we get started, tell us a bit about yourself… I love backyard picks…

Volunteer Hot Seat – Grace Hyun

Welcome to Food Forward’s Hot Seat! Where we ask up to 10 rapid-fire questions to answer with onlyone word (or as few words as possible). Before we get started, tell us a bit about yourself… I am a Glean Team…

Photo of David with orange background and text reading Volunteer Spotlight Hot Seat!

Volunteer Hot Seat – David Avshalomov

Welcome to Food Forward’s Hot Seat! Where we ask up to 10 rapid-fire questions to answer with only one word (or as few words as possible). Before we get started, a little about David… David has volunteered at the Santa…

Photo of volunteers tossing oranges in the air in front of stack of Food Forward boxes in citrus grove

A passionate ambassador

Meet our December Volunteer of the Month: David Komatz! David is a Community Ambassador, which is a pear-fect role for him because his passion and knowledge make him an incredible representative of Food Forward’s work. While he is based in…

Photo of volunteers tossing oranges in the air in front of stack of Food Forward boxes in citrus grove

Fulfilling a purpose through volunteering

Meet our November Volunteer of the Month: Araceli Schnaufer. Araceli is a Pick Leader who leads events all over Ventura County. She often brings friends or family to her picks, and always has a positive attitude. We thank her for…

Boxes of peaches, plums, and tomatoes on table

Hate waste, love to glean

Meet our September Volunteers of the Month, Lori and Steve Cameron, who have been lifting pounds on pounds of produce at the Thousand Oaks farmers market, rain or shine since 2018. Always eager to lend a hand, these stellar Glean…

Photo of volunteers tossing oranges in the air in front of stack of Food Forward boxes in citrus grove

Sustainability in action

After a few months of helping out at harvests as a general volunteer, Marin was subjected to an incessant slurry of requests to train as a Pick Leader. Staff and fellow volunteers noticed right away that she was, well, a…

Volunteer of the Month – Jeff Feldman

Jeff has been a part of the Food Forward community for over 8 years, and in that time has become an invaluable and beloved member. He is full of so much gleaning knowledge and tips and is always happy to…

Close-up photo of many kumquats

Volunteer Survey Results

En español abajo In November 2021, Food Forward’s Volunteer Team released an online volunteer survey in both English and Spanish. The goal of the survey was to find out more about who our community is and learn ways to improve…

Box of red and green peppers

Vital volunteering can happen from home

Congratulations to Sinead, our June Volunteer of the Month! Sinead has put in many hours of work since the end of last year to clean up our press contacts list, making sure we have accurate names and emails. This is fairly tedious work and…