Volunteers Needed

Chicken Baggers needed! AFAC buys chicken at wholesale prices. We need volunteers to bag it in individual size portions.  Wear your old duds; we’ll provide aprons and gloves. We bag chicken every Wednesday night (excluding July 4th and August 29th) from 6:30-7:30 and especially need help during the summer months. We also need help Thursday, July 5th from 2-4pm. 12+ year olds welcome. If you can help, please email volunteer4afac@afac.org.

Shirlington Jazz Festival: Join other AFAC volunteers for the annual Jazz Festival at Shirlington Village on Thursday evenings from July 12-August 30. Volunteers help pour wine, collect tickets, and have an opportunity to talk about AFAC (and collect food and monetary donations) from 6-7:15pm and 7:15-8:45pm. Volunteers must be 21 to help at this event and you should be comfortable standing outside. You can sign up online or for more information contact Danielle Rampton at danielle.rampton@afac.org.

Volunteer Update!

Driver needed for the new Ballston

farmers market pick-up on Thursday evenings, 6:15-7:45pm. Drivers must be comfortable driving an AFAC van and must submit their driving record to AFAC. For more information, contact laura.jackson@afac.org.

Featured Volunteer – Heather Murnane

In addition to her two regular pick-ups for AFAC, Heather is always willing to pitch in for other volunteer drivers. There are weeks when she ends up picking up donations from two or even three different places. Heather also helps out at community events through AFAC’s Speaker’s Bureau and with holiday food drives. We are grateful for her cheerful “I can do it” spirit!

Heather says: “I started volunteering with AFAC in January of 2011.  I have lived in Arlington for about 7 years now and I love its people, its charm and its quirky personality.  Living here has been, and continues to be, a delight.  I think it’s important to support your community in any way you can, and, for me, AFAC has been a perfect fit.  I have helped out with food drives (those Boy Scouts sure come through!), farmer’s markets, and I am a regular “Night Owl” driver for the Trader Joe’s run.  I plan to continue to be an AFAC volunteer for many years to come.”

Volunteers Needed!

Volunteers Needed

Sunday Produce Bagging help needed. We still need 5 volunteers for this Sunday, June 3, 1:30-3:30pm. You can sign up to help using our online calendar.

Columbia Pike Blues Festival – Saturday, June 16th from 1-8pm. Be an ambassador for AFAC while enjoying good music and food. Share information about AFAC, how people can access services and how they can volunteer. Please contact communications@afac.org if you can volunteer for a 2 hour shift (12:30-2:30pm, 4:30-6:30pm, 6:30-8:30pm).

Videographer Needed: Videographer needed to tape cooking demonstrations on a weekday afternoon and produce an edited product. Please contact communications@afac.org if you are interested.

Summer Teen Program: From 9:30 to 12:30 each weekday during the summer, teens age 14 and older volunteer in AFAC’s warehouse and office. Read more on this webpage – summer teen program. Orientations for the program will be held Monday, June 11th and Thursday, June 14th, 4-5pm.

Bagging Teams: One of the outstanding features of AFAC is the participation of many volunteers who help us. Volunteers do everything from distributing food; growing food; to repackaging bulk purchased foods and running the many food drives that bring in the food we distribute. Recently, we made a change in our distribution to allow our clients greater choice in the food items they can select. Unfortunately, this change has put many of the teams that bag cans and staples “out of work.” Some of these teams have been helping us for many years.

Almost 24 years ago, AFAC was founded by a group of congregations as a volunteer-based organization. We have changed over the years, as our work has grown more complex. However, AFAC is committed to remaining an organization that relies on the work of our volunteers to efficiently, effectively and with great caring help the less fortunate in our community.

While we no longer need help bagging canned goods, we plan to expand other programs and will be transitioning these teams to other volunteer work at AFAC. As we try to address the needs of more low income families here in Arlington, we will continue to depend on the hard work of our many volunteers.

Remember to join us on Sunday at the Volunteer Appreciation Picnic when we honor these teams for their dedication and hard work for AFAC.