New Year’s resolutions are notoriously difficult to keep. But for those who set a goal to volunteer more — or start volunteering — in 2024, local organizations make it easy to get involved.
After experiencing a drop in volunteers as a lingering effect of the pandemic when many organizations paused volunteering, the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank is getting back to its pre-pandemic level of volunteer hours. So far this year, 10,200 volunteers have donated 63,000 hours of service to the organization, compared with 7,400 volunteers and more than 55,000 hours in 2022.
“We’re really seeing a resurgence in our volunteer efforts coming through, which is amazing,” said Raven Gayheart, director of marketing and public relations for the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank.
The same is true for United Way of Summit & Medina counties, said Andrew Leask, the organization’s associate vice president of marketing and brand management. So far in 2023, more than 500 volunteers have donated about 3,500 hours.
“That’s actually relatively consistent with what we’ve had in the past, although we have been seeing a higher number steadily growing since COVID,” Leask said. “We definitely saw a lower number of volunteers during COVID, even though we still had some volunteer opportunities going on then.”
Akron-Canton Foodbank expects high levels of need to continue
2023 wasn’t just a busy year for the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank–it was the busiest with 3 million visits made so far this year, Gayheart said. For context, that’s 1 million more visits than the food bank had in 2020 at the height of the pandemic.
“We’ve just seen a tremendous increase in need. And what’s unfortunate is more people are seeking help, but our ability to source food isn’t keeping up with the increase in demand,” said Gayheart, who cites inflation and a reduction in pandemic-era SNAP benefits as the main reasons more people are seeking food assistance.
The food bank, which serves eight counties, distributes food at its main campus in Akron and at its Stark County campus in Canton. It also works with more than 600 smaller, local pantries and meal sites that purchase food from the food bank to distribute in their communities.
Like other hunger-relief organizations across the country, the food bank instituted a drive-through pantry model at its main campus during the pandemic. The campus had its last drive-through distribution earlier this month and plans to open its on-site pantry in early 2024. When the food bank opened its Stark campus pantry in 2021, Gayheart said they expected to serve 400 families a week. Today that number is almost 1,000 families a week.
Gayheart expects 2024 to be just as busy. “We think that that will quickly become the norm in Akron, if not higher,” she said.
With higher levels of need comes a stronger reliance on volunteers. At the Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, the majority of volunteers work in the campus warehouses, where they inspect, sort and repack donated food items. People can also volunteer at the food bank’s onsite pantries and serve as drivers for several programs, including one that delivers food to people who have transportation or mobility issues.
For those unable to volunteer, there are still ways to help. This spring, the food bank will host Harvest for Hunger. The annual campaign is the food bank’s largest fundraiser and helps support food distribution all year. People and groups throughout the organization’s service area host food and fund drives. For more information, visit akroncantonfoodbank.org/harvest.
United Way in need of volunteers for tax prep program
A new year means a new tax season, and United Way is currently recruiting for its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program. The program, known as VITA, provides free tax-preparation services to households in Summit and Medina counties that earn less than $64,000 annually.
Leask said United Way aims to recruit about 100 VITA volunteers. And while some already have a financial background or tax prep experience, it is not a requirement to participate. The program does have one requirement: Volunteers must be 18 years of age or older.
“We’ve had volunteers who said that they weren’t necessarily good with taxes. Then they went through the training, an IRS-certified training, and a lot of them said, ‘I learned so much about doing even my own taxes through that,’” Leask said. “It can actually be very worthwhile, even for people who don’t have tax experience.”
For those interested in other opportunities with United Way, the organization is always looking for volunteers at its Family Resource Centers. Located at four Akron public schools, the centers connect families with services available in the area, from nutrition assistance to housing, Leask said. Volunteers are needed to assist with the centers’ monthly Family United Nights.
“It’s really about connecting families to all the different kinds of resources that are available and really doing that in a way that brings that help to the neighborhoods that these Akron public schools are located in,” Leask said.
United Way also hosts community engagement events throughout the year that people can volunteer at. One of those is Read to Me Day, which happens several times a year in Summit and Medina counties. Volunteers visit local classrooms and read aloud to elementary school children. The next Read to Me Days are March 1 at Akron Public Schools and March 6 at Medina City Schools. Volunteer registration for both events will go live closer to the date.
Habitat for Humanity looks ahead to largest construction project yet
Habitat for Humanity of Summit County is known for building affordable homes for families in need, but as President and CEO Rochelle Sibbio explained, volunteering at a build site is just one of the ways people can get involved with the organization.
“We use subject matter experts in our community to teach our homeowner education classes to our partner families,” Sibbio said. “They can volunteer in our ReStore. They can also volunteer to be on one of our committees. We do have non-board members on our committees, especially volunteering on one of our three special event committees.”
So far this year, more than 1,000 people have volunteered a total of 13,278 hours. Sibbio said the organization hasn’t quite reached its pre-pandemic volunteer levels yet. “We’re still down a couple hundred volunteers a year,” she said.
For those interested in volunteering at a construction site, they will have to wait until April to sign up as Habitat for Humanity is done with building projects until then.
“We are generally building year round. It just so happens that the way things fell this year, our last three houses are done, and our next six houses, we weren’t able to get foundations dug and in the ground. But normally, we would still be building right now,” Sibbio said.
Habitat for Humanity’s next construction project is the organization’s biggest yet: a 16-home development on a three-acre parcel in the North Hill neighborhood. The land is currently owned by the City of Akron, but Sibbio said the transfer process is underway. The project is expected to take two years.
Building site volunteers aren’t required to have any construction experience. Whether participants are DIY pros or complete novices, all are welcome.
“Volunteers come from skill level to no skill level, to the point in which they don’t even properly know how to hold a hammer,” Sibbio said. “Our site supervisors that run our jobs, those are Habitat staff. They help with all that on the job site. They make people comfortable. Whether they’re siding the house or putting in windows and doors or putting up insulation or painting, they’re going to tell them what the activity is, and they’re going to show them what needs done that day.”
