TWC spent a day this summer volunteering at Earth’s Table in Boulder and Community Food Share in Louisville. We’ve grown fond of Earth’s Table’s incredible garden located in Boulder, and this marks the 2nd year that we’ve volunteered there. Earth’s Table is an all-volunteer non-profit whose main goal is to eliminate hunger in Boulder County through multiple garden sites. 100% of their fresh produce – harvested by volunteers at multiple garden sites – is donated to local food banks (including Community Food Share), for distribution to people and families in need. Last year, they were able to harvest over 24,500 pounds of produce!
Above: Dianna showing off her pickings.
Above: Karen showing off her pickings
Above: Myra showing off her pickings
We spent the morning with Michele, who oversees one of the gardens in Boulder. She guided us throughout the morning on what produce would be targeted for this particular day. Michele is a great leader and encouraged us throughout the harvest; we always feel so proud of our pickings with her positive attitude. She let us know that everything we harvested would be immediately delivered to agencies that would distribute them all over the county. That made us work harder to get as much as we could from our harvest – which turned out to be 486 pounds!
Above: Scott posing with his great finds.
After a glorious morning of picking and packing, we made our way to Community Food Share in Louisville. As mentioned earlier, Community Food Share receives produce directly from Earth’s Table, as well as other local gardens in the area. CFS thrives on volunteers as they aim to distribute enough food to provide 22,500 meals every day! Considering their goal is to distribute 10.3 million pounds of food per year, it’s not a surprise that they are always accepting volunteers. We were told that about 4,500 people volunteer every year with CFS. We were so happy to be a part of that number.
Above: Packaging onions for distribution.
We’ve been lucky to have been guided by Katy at Community Food Share for the past few years. We always feel accomplished with her easy-to-follow instructions and flowing packing processes. This year we found ourselves working on packaging and sorting fruits and veggies for distribution.
We’re excited to return next year for another great day of volunteering! If you’re interested in checking out either of these organizations, please visit their websites:
- Earth’s Table – http://earths-table.org/
- Community Food Share – https://communityfoodshare.volunteerhub.com/
