What it's like to Volunteer @ SHARE
Detailed Accounts Provided by Ron, SHARE Volunteer

Boxing Holiday Specials 

I got help out again at the Self Help and Resource Exchange (SHARE) in Bladensburg today. Today was boxing day at SHARE. Boxing day is where you put together boxes and then fill them with the fixings that go with their ham or turkey food packages. Typically this includes stuffing mix, mash potatoes, a bag of frozen vegetables, corn bread mix, and some other stuff.

The warehouse opened at 7 a.m. In order to be there when they opened, me and Tami headed out at 6:15 a.m. The drive was uneventful and we arrived shortly before things kicked off. Putting the boxes together was easy. I found once I got into a rhythm, I was able to steadily knock out quite a few boxes. Initially, I thought all we were going to do was put boxes together but, I found out the people who run SHARE also planned to fill them in advance of distribution day. Me and Tami got tagged to help out with the line they formed for filling the boxes. Tami stuffed the bag of frozen veggies, a packet of some kind of seasoning mix, and a box of stuffing mix into the boxes. My job was to stack the boxes on pallets and when we got enough boxes, wrap them in something resembling saran wrap. The group we were with worked hard and got a lot done. I figured we assembled and packed over 500 boxes of fixings for distribution day before me and Tami left. The two of us ended up spending over 4 hours at SHARE. It was nice to help out again and I look forward to helping out on distribution day. I may also try to help out after I take the final for the college class I'm taking.