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| You can help out too! Volunteers are always needed and GREATLY appreciated. |
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Dear Chubby Bunny CSA members,
As you know, one of the ways we are able to enjoy the delicious food we have formed the Chubby Bunny community to receive is because everyone pitches in and helps out at the site a few times each season.
Volunteer commitment: A member from each share, whether it's a small or whole share, is required to volunteer for 2 one and one-half hour 'shifts' to help out at the site over the course of the season. There are 2 shifts, 4:30-6, and 6-7:30 PM. If you are absolutely unable to ever honor your commitment at those times, you can either pay the small stipend of $60.00 or contact Bernie at bernie@chubbybunnynyc.org to find out if there are other ways that you can fulfill your volunteer duties from home. These situations will decided upon availability of “off site” duties and are more likely to occur if Bernie is notified early in the season.
Both shifts involve helping the site coordinator (there are 3 different coordinators who alternate weeks) with everything that needs to be done to help the distribution run smoothly. The site coordinator will assign individual duties to the 3 volunteers that sign up for each shift, but if you see something that needs to be done and you are available to do it, please do!
The Early shift (from 4:30 - 6PM) involves being at the site a half hour before the distribution starts. By 4:30 our delivery truck has already been unloaded by the driver but if not, your first job will include helping to unload the van. IF YOU CAN’T HELP IN THIS CAPACITY BECAUSE OF INJURIES, PREGANCY, ETC. YOU WILL NEED TO SIGN UP FOR THE LATE SHIFT WHERE THE SITE COORDIANTORS CAN WORK AROUND YOUR LIMITATIONS.
Other duties include:
- organizing the shares in the courtyard: veggie shares, and optional shares (fruit, milk, meat, ADAMAH dairy and eggs)
- posting signs for each item showing how much of each item each member should take
- setting up scales for weighing, and pre-weighing out bags of some items to help things run more smoothly during busy times
Early and Late shifts
**monitoring the optional shares area, which involves checking off members who pick up fruit, meat, ADAMAH dairy, eggs and milk. (A site coordinator will give you the list). As the distribution progresses, keep track of how many shares are left and make sure that the number equals the number of shares yet to be picked up on your list. If there is a discrepancy, notify the site coordinator immediately. Some weeks we have extra fruit to sell. During your shift, you should periodically check with the site coordinators to see if this is the case. If so, you will then offer it to members as they go by. The volunteer who is overseeing egg distribution, will also collect any empty egg cartons members bring for Dan to “recycle”.
**break down the fruit boxes and tie them up.
**making sure the distribution bins are always fully stocked with produce.
** stacking empty bins in the designated area (see site coordinator) - these will be returned to the farm for future distributions
** keeping the courtyard tidy, sweeping up debris, breaking down any cardboard boxes as they become empty and putting them in the recycling area etc.
The Late shift (from 6-7:30 PM) involves all the non-setup jobs listed above (**) as well as jobs related to closing down the site after the distribution ends at 7. Closing jobs include:
- bringing any unclaimed items in storage bins to the food pantry in the church (these are given to New Yorkers seeking help in getting food for their families as well as by cooks who provide meals for those in need through the Westside Campaign Against Hunger)
- cleaning and putting away signs, scales, tables, benches and any other items that are reused at each distribution.
- sweep the grounds clean, making sure the courtyard and check in area are as clean as possible and ready for future users of the space
Chicken shift (from 4:50- 7:10 counts as 2 volunteer shifts)
Before signing up for this shift, be aware that you must be able to do some moderate/heavy lifting. After the delivery truck has been unloaded by the driver, if there are more chickens than fit into our coolers, you will need to bring the extra down into the walk-in cooler located inside the food pantry. Therefore, periodically you will have to go down there and bring several chickens out to the courtyard to store in our portable cooler for distribution.
When you arrive to the site on the day that you are scheduled to volunteer, immediately check in with a site coordinator who will give you your job assignment(s).
While there is a core group of members who take care of a lot of what is necessary to run the CSA, we can't do it without the member volunteers. Please take this commitment seriously, and enjoy it as a way of getting to know your Chubby Bunny community.
Thank you all so much!
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Please visit the Sign-Up page to select your Volunteer dates.
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