Rolling Up Our Sleeves at Redwood Empire Food Bank

Today, a group of Women for Good members traded their usual routines for gloves and an assembly line as we gathered at the Redwood Empire Food Bank for our quarterly volunteer shift.

Our task was simple: help pack senior meal boxes that will be distributed throughout our region. Together with fellow community volunteers and the incredible Redwood Empire Food Bank staff, we packed an impressive 308 senior food boxes, totaling 9,809 pounds of food!

Many seniors in our community are living on fixed incomes and face impossible choices every month, stretching limited budgets while balancing rising housing, healthcare, and everyday living costs. Too often, food is the expense that gets sacrificed. Through its senior food program, Redwood Empire Food Bank helps ensure that low-income seniors across five counties have access to a reliable source of healthy, fresh food.

For us, volunteering together is about more than the numbers. It's an opportunity to spend a few hours making a hands-on difference while connecting with one another and strengthening our shared commitment to community.

A special thank you goes to our member Judi, who coordinates and organizes these quarterly food bank volunteer shifts for Women for Good. Because of her efforts, our members have a meaningful way to give back together throughout the year.

Watching the assembly line in action was a perfect reminder of what can happen when everyone contributes a little. A couple of people packed cans, another packed juice, another beans, and before long, pallet after pallet was filled with nutritious food that will provide thousands of meals for local seniors.

And while every volunteer played an important role, today's unofficial MVP award goes to Corin, whose job was lifting each completed box onto the pallets. By the end of the shift, she had moved more than 9,800 pounds of food - an impressive workout in the name of community service!

We are grateful to the Redwood Empire Food Bank for the work they do every day to fight hunger across our region and for providing opportunities like this for community members to get involved.

Today's assembly line was a powerful reminder that when people come together with a shared purpose, small individual actions can add up to something truly significant.

We're already looking forward to returning for our next volunteer shift in September - let us know if you would like to join us!