Take time to show you care
Don't worry! There are still hands-on ways to make a difference. Bring your team together while social distancing. Pack food sacks at home and deliver to a central drop-off-site, throw a care card party, host a food drive. These events can be held any day of the week, any time of day.
Community Care
Card Party
A great way to build a community that can be done while social distancing! We are always in need of more care cards: little love notes that go into both our food sacks and our gift card envelopes. A perfect arts and crafts activity that can be done by all ages. We love all the different kinds of handmade care cards we receive, both notes and pictures. We especially love receiving them in both English and Spanish. Making care cards can also be done on an individual basis. We cherish all the cards we get, whether that’s in bundles of 2 or 200.
Community Cares
Packing Event
Are you looking for a hands-on volunteer experience for your community group or team? Host your own packing event, even from home! You decide how many kids you want to feed, then purchase the food needed using the Portland Backpack food list. Portland Backpack will help you facilitate the event by providing information and flyers you can send to everyone involved, and setting up a meal sack drop-off time. Work with your team to pack food and a little love into bags for our neighborhood kids. Even when you can’t physically be in the same place.
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Pack food sacks at home
Your family can pack food sacks at home! Buy the food, write the care cards, and pack the sacks. Below are instructions to tell you how. We distribute our food sacks in plastic grocery bags because they are the strongest and easiest for a kid to walk home with. But if you don’t have them then pack them in paper or other plastic bags and we will transfer them when you drop them off. Please schedule a drop-off day/time with us.
DOWNLOAD THE PACK AT HOME INSTRUCTIONS
Volunteer Roles
SCHOOL TEAMS
Coordinator | The primary contact between the school liaison and Portland Backpack. They communicate with school staff, coordinate deliveries, take and order inventory, and schedule packing events. School hours.
Delivery Team | With two people and two vehicles, pick up 16-22 bins of packed food sacks at storage and deliver them to a school. Deliver on Wednesdays by 2:45 pm, return empty bins after distribution ends at 5 pm. One-way trips (either bin drop-off or pick-up) are okay. (Requires heavy lifting.)
Distribution Team | Pass out food sacks to the children and families who need them at a school. Wednesdays from 3-5 pm. Great way to get service hours. If you are interested but cannot commit to every Wednesday, you can still sign up to be on our alternate list.
OTHER TALENTS
Fundraising
Administrative
Marketing
Spanish Speaking
Photography
Event Management
FOOD INVENTORY MANAGEMENT TEAM
Buyer | Watch prices to make sure we buy at the lowest cost.
Food Pick-Up Team | Teams of people who pick up bulk food orders from suppliers. (Requires heavy lifting and a large vehicle.)
Food Inventory Mover | Unload large bulk orders. (Requires heavy lifting.)
Inventory Taker | Make sure we stay properly stocked. Detail work. Done on your own schedule.
Food Sack Packers | Pack food sacks. Packings are held every 2nd Saturday afternoon and 4th Tuesday evening of the month. Social distancing and safety guidelines in place.