RIFA in need of volunteers for upcoming Pack the Bus event
Regional Inter-Faith Association (RIFA) is hosting its annual Pack the Bus food drive on Aug. 3.
As much as the organization will appreciate any food donations on that day, they would also be as appreciative beforehand of people signing up to volunteer at the event.
The event will last from 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. at five locations – both Wal-Marts in town, Sam’s Club and two Kroger locations – Stonebrook and University Parkway.
That means they need five times the manpower to help place the food on the bus and communicate with shoppers and potential donors.
“The way we’re doing it is we’re splitting the work at the stores into three shifts,” said Denise Walton, who manages donor and community relations for RIFA.
The first shift is 8:30-11 a.m., followed by 10:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and 1:15 p.m. until 4 p.m. There’s also a fourth shift that people can sign up for from 4-5:30 p.m. that’s at the RIFA building on Airways Boulevard.
“This is the shift where we take all the food from the buses and place it into the building,” Walton said. “And every shift is a chance to have some fun with other like-minded folks while doing good for kids in the community, but that last shift is certainly one that is enjoyable with the more the merrier and more hands makes a lighter load.
“I remember last year when we were unloading, we were on the clock because a storm was coming in and we wanted to get all the food in before it got wet. We were successful, but just barely, but it was one of those times where everyone available chipped in and helped out.”
Those who volunteer at the stores will be asked to do one of three things – either stand at the door to the store and hand out food item lists to anyone going in that wants to help and say thanks to those coming out, help with the actual placement of food on the bus or help be a link between the door to the store and the bus.
“We won’t ask anyone to fulfill one role for their entire shift unless they need to for some health reason, which is fine,” Walton said. “But that’s a look at what volunteers would do at the Pack the Bus sites.”
The food collected will be used in the Snack Backpack program, where bags of kid-friendly, easy-to-prepare, nutritious food are sent home with children in elementary schools throughout the county who have little to no food over the weekends from the time school is dismissed Friday afternoon until they return to school Monday morning.
Walton said they were giving out a little more than 1,100 bags each week at the beginning of last school year. That number had grown to nearly 1,400 per week by the time the school year ended in May.
“Hunger and food insecurity is definitely an issue right here in Jackson, and we appreciate volunteer work and donations that already happen at RIFA as we try to fill that need,” Walton said. “But we’re asking for more help with Pack the Bus.
“We raised about 15,000 pounds of food last year. We hope to surpass that this year, and we’re asking that anyone that has some time to help us on Aug. 3, we would greatly appreciate it.”
Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news
