Who Are Our Volunteers?
The vast majority of the 300 serving teams that makeup the core of our volunteers come from faith-oriented organizations (about 80%). The remaining 20% come from community businesses, companies, civic groups like Rotary, Chambers of Commerce, American Legions, etc. With each serving team consisting of fifteen to thirty members, the average number of volunteers at Loaves and Fishes at any given time is roughly 4,000. For twenty-eight years (1982-2009) these volunteers have been the heart and soul of our organization. Many of the teams have been serving meals at least once a month for all twenty-eight years. Many have served from ten to fifteen years. All of the teams bring outstanding dedication and commitment of service that is beneficial to the organization and to our guests.

What Our Volunteers Do
Volunteering at Loaves and Fishes usually occurs through someone’s church, company or civic group affiliation wanting to help feed people in need at one of our eight dining sites. Someone generally helps to organize a group of between ten and twenty volunteers so that once each month (or sometimes every other month) the group will purchase, prepare, serve, and clean-up the food for the evening meal at one of our eight locations. The number of meals served varies from site to site, however, 120 to 350 meals daily is the average range. Providing respite and hospitality to the guests from the communities is part of the evening meal service.

How to Become a Volunteer
Contact our central office during regular office hours and ask for the Volunteer Coordinator, Andrea Kish-Bailey. You can also send her an e-mail at: loavesak@visi.com. Tell her you and/or your group is interested in becoming a Loaves and Fishes volunteer. Please indicate the dining site where you would prefer to volunteer, how many are in your group and when you would be available. Those individuals who contact our office that are not part of a larger group can generally be scheduled to work with smaller groups that need members on a regular basis.

What Our Volunteers Have To Say
"I look forward to serving at River of Life every month. Our church has been serving the same meal since 1992 and love every minute of it."

"Everyone from our group gets so much pleasure from coming to Creekside once a month and serving the guests. We know many of them by name after all these years of serving."