Emergency Food System Challenges: Attracting & Retaining Volunteers

Volunteers are an essential part of many food pantry operations. They often do a variety of tasks including collecting, organizing, and distributing food. Managing volunteers is challenging.  Organizations often struggle with high turnover, continual training, and language barriers between volunteers and clients. The 2019-2020 Ralph W. Voorhees Fellows examined the role of volunteers in pantry management. This food brief provides some strategies for attracting and retaining volunteers.

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research brief