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Thursday, February 13, 2025

Loaves and Fishes: Is trucking in your wheelhouse?

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by Amy Clarke Sievers

Loaves & Fishes Community Services is the largest food pantry in Illinois – feeding approximately 10,000 people each week. Every step of our food program is powered by volunteers. Last year more than 1,000 individuals and 30 organizations dedicated service hours to rescue, sort, box, bag, and distribute food, and assist our clients in accessing resources.

How do we procure the food needed to feed all these people? Loaves & Fishes has 13 volunteer drivers who make 80 stops each week at over 30 locations to rescue food. Last year, 33% of the more than 6.4 million pounds of food that was distributed was rescued from local grocers. That would not be possible without one of our most critical groups – our volunteer drivers.

Last year, our drivers covered over 66,000 miles in our efforts to rescue and distribute food. It can be a challenging assignment, but our drivers report that they have fun doing it.

One of our drivers, John Taska, has been rescuing food for Loaves & Fishes since 2018. John already had a Class C License and thought doing rescue would be an interesting and challenging assignment.  “I enjoy and appreciate the teamwork and problem-solving required to bring rescued food to the Hub. There are many moving pieces (besides the trucks themselves) that need to fit together. No two days are ever the same.” He added, “Drivers are the face of Loaves & Fishes to our vendor/partners – it’s a great feeling when they sincerely thank us for what L&F does to help those in need.”

If you are looking for a rewarding volunteer opportunity – we are always looking for more people to join our team, especially drivers. Volunteer Drivers are required to have a valid non-CDL Class C driver’s license.

John says, “Looking to travel to ‘exotic’ locations? Ever wondered what happens in the back of a grocery store? Here’s your chance. We need more drivers. Why not you? You will never be bored!”

To learn more, visit loaves-fishes.org or email volunteer@loaves-fishes.org.

Amy Clarke Sievers is the Director of Volunteer Engagement at Loaves & Fishes Community Services. Contact her at acsievers@loaves-fishes.org.

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Loaves and Fishes
Loaves and Fisheshttp://www.loaves-fishes.org/
Loaves & Fishes is an anti-poverty, hunger relief agency that serves the western suburbs of Chicago.
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