The AmeriCorps VIP program has definitely proven not only beneficial, but necessary for the Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County. Spread between two warehouses, the Food Bank only comprises of 23 paid employees, otherwise we gratefully rely on our pool of 400+ volunteers!
Our VIP fellows Stephanie Lossinsky and Megan Chicoine both handle our large database of volunteers, as they work with the volunteers and orchestrate opportunities for those who want to participate in the community. It is so important to nurture and establish positive, fun relations with the generous people who want to help the county, and Stephanie and Megan surely do that with great verve, leadership, and administration.
One of the core volunteer groups they look forward to working with is the vivacious and always entertaining 8th grade girls with Community Giving Back, which is a service-oriented program for youth that facilitates opportunities to attend camps and various educational programs. The 8th graders have been dubbed “The Fridays” since almost every Friday, between 4 and 7 girls join forces and tackle various tasks at the Food Bank warehouse in Paso Robles. Stephanie and Megan always look forward to when the girls come to the Food Bank because the Fridays complete the occasional dirty work—for instance, bagging onions for the Saturday distribution (sometimes there are a few grimy ones!)—with loads of laughter and cheery attitudes! They make sure that the Fridays know exactly how and who in SLO County they are helping.
It was really exciting during our "Have a Heart Food Drive" at Food 4 Less in February because the girls very excitingly gathered food from giving customers and even got to take turns dressing up as the amazing Food Bank mascot Sandie the Sandwich! Community Giving Back creator Kim Austin truly appreciates the relationship between the VIP Fellows Stephanie and Megan and the Fridays. All of them understand the value of service and enjoy the process of providing for the community.
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