Second Harvest in Grand Rapids Recognizes Community Help During Volunteer Appreciation Month

Volunteer work is an incredibly noble pursuit that often sees people helping lift up their communities just from the good of their hearts. To recognize efforts made in the Grand Rapids community, Second Harvest North Central Food Bank is currently celebrating Volunteer Appreciation Month.

“The food bank could not survive without the army of volunteers that come to help us every day,” said Second Harvest North Central Food Bank Executive Director Sue Estee.

“We’re extremely fortunate to have a very wonderful group of volunteers. These people are amazing, they make this place run,” said Second Harvest North Central Food Bank Volunteer Coordinator Michelle Hipsag. “We certainly could not feed people without them.”

Much of the work at Second Harvest is performed by volunteers, and their work ranges from manning the adjoined food shelf to managing food packs for mobile pick-ups.

“They do all kinds of jobs from helping in the food shelf, to sorting food, to helping at pop-ups, to packing boxes,” said Estee, “all kinds of different jobs that the food bank needs done.”

While every volunteer has their own individual motivations for helping their work, at the end of the day, it’s a service that sees communities gain tremendous support.

“Just seeing the people come in, too, they’re so grateful for everything that we do,” said volunteer Mary Cheney.

“It’s sad to see that there’s this much need, but it’s nice to see that there’s this much available for people in need,” said volunteer Terri Hill.

Volunteers can also be found assisting the many food shelves Second Harvest serves across seven counties in the state, ensuring that those in need won’t go hungry.