The two Free Food Sheds have been a hot topic of discussion on social media here in Cochrane over the past few weeks. So, Lauren and I thought it would be great to see firsthand what a food rescue volunteer shift actually looks like with Helping Hands.
Going into this experience, we both thought we had a pretty good grasp of the process of filling the two sheds, but the hour-long shift was eye-opening.
We started by arriving at one of the grocery stores in Cochrane, where several boxes of food were waiting for us. This food wasn’t what you might typically think of as “rescued food.”
There were full deli trays, salads, wraps, and lots of bakery items. This food had fulfilled its shelf life in the store but was still fit for human consumption.
After the pick-up, we returned to Helping Hands Headquarters to process the food. This included checking the packaging, crossing off barcodes (to ensure the items couldn’t later be returned to the store), and dividing the food for each shed.
Then we headed to the Free Food Sheds. The first stop was the "East" shed, set up at St. Andrews. When we arrived, we checked the temperatures of the fridge, freezer, and pantry to ensure they were ready for the upcoming refill.
As we began to fill the shed, we noticed people arriving to use the service. The big takeaway for us was the variety of people using the sheds, from seniors to young adults, and even a family with small children.
Next was the "West" shed at the Bow Valley Baptist Church. This shed, known as the "little sister", has a fridge and pantry, but no freezer.
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We worked together to quickly fill and clean the shed, making sure it was ready for another day of helping the community.
As we wrapped up our hour-long shift, it became clear how much care goes into maintaining these Free Food Sheds.
It takes a team of 60 volunteers 243 shifts per month to keep up with the rescued food program. Helping Hands rescues food from two of the four major grocers in Cochrane every day (except Christmas) and has pick-ups from other retailers throughout the month as well.
- Eric
