Lions Club – My First Service Project!
It's official, I'm a Lion!
Ever since our big move from California to the Chicagoland area, I've thought about how to get more involved in our community, meet new friends and fill these cold winter months with some cheer. Joining a local Lions Club solved all of these challenges, overnight!
Lions Clubs International is a global service organization that helps people in need, made up of more than 48,000 clubs in 200+ countries, and 1.4 million members.
For my first service project as a Lion, I ventured to the Greater Chicago Food Depository with my new team to do some good.
The GCFD is Cook County's warehouse hub for processing and distributing food to more than 700 local food bank and shelter partners. They receive huge shipments of bulk food items and break them down into smaller packages that individuals can take home.
I was surprised and impressed by the vastness of the GCFD facility, including this massive volunteer orientation room. We sat on these cushy cubes while the volunteer coordinator revealed the day's activity: sorting potatoes!
On this (early) Saturday morning, we divided big pallets of potatoes into smaller bags for families in need.
How cute are these vegetable-coded lockers? My stuff went right into the pineapple one, of course.
First we sort the potatoes and toss any gross ones...
Then we bag them up for families!
(Photo credit: Lion Melissa Nadeau)
My new Lion friends - what a great crew. And we all look fabulous in hairnets.
During this session, our group and the other volunteers processed a total of 14,400 pounds of potatoes. Go team!
After a long morning on our feet, elbows-deep in spuds, we enjoyed picking out our prize; one of these colorful food pun stickers. Which dorky pun is your favorite?
A-maize-ing
Give us a try, peas!
I love you from my head...tomatoes
Just chilin'
Br-avocado!
Lettuce be friends!
I carrot about you!
Brocc & roll
Eat apple-y ever after
You look radishing!
You are berry special
I love these beautiful fruit and veggie mosaic tables in the lobby.
I swear I don't normally hold up this many peace signs in photos. Maybe I've forgotten how to be in photos with people; it's been so long.
Interested in joining a Lions Club in your area? Click here to use the club locator tool.
Where should we volunteer next?