SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Food Bank is hoping to shore up it’s number of volunteers ahead of the busy summer season.
It generally is a time for us at the food bank that people are distracted. They’re not thinking of volunteering, they’re not thinking of the food bank and so we’re trying to keep everybody’s attention,” said San Antonio Food Bank CEO Erik Cooper.
Cooper specifically sought to encourage parents looking for things their kids can do during summer break, highlighting potentially educational volunteer opportunities like getting to work on the Food Bank’s urban farm.
“This is a free activity that you can get your family involved in and often times, you learn from it.”
He said That during the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of their corporate volunteer groups had dried up.
“Many corporations are doing work from home,” he said. “And so, we’ve had to rely on individuals, churches, clubs, that are still out there.”
Cooper laid out a list of factors that could have an impact on hunger this season, including the lack of school lunches, higher energy bills and childcare costs for parents returning to work. To keep their operation running smoothly Cooper said they need about 2000 volunteers a week. Anyone interested in volunteering can go to SAFoodBank.org, or NBFoodbank.org in Comal county for the New Braunfels Food Bank.
“All of us are feeling the depression from COVID and the best way to get out of that is to help someone else,” Cooper said. “So, get out and serve.”