The Southsider Voice
Visit us at these places!
  • Home
  • News
    • Top Stories
    • Sports
    • Car Nutz
    • Stilley Goes Trackside
    • Southside Deaths
    • Personal Recollections
    • Reminiscing
  • About the Voice
  • Advertising
  • Contact
  • Newspaper Archive
  • Classifieds

Southport Teacher Calls in Volunteers

5/30/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture
SOUTHSIDER VOICE PHOTOS BY TABATHA FITZGERALD Southport senior Megan Irving (left) and family and consumer sciences teacher Raye Jordan share a laugh while slicing bell peppers at Seconding Helpings.
PictureSenior Bradley Martin is handy with a knife.
By Tabatha Fitzgerald
Southport High School intern

From just one local organization, more than 4,000 meals are sent out daily to 85 different places like homeless shelters and pantries. The goal is to send out 5,000 meals every day and 1 million annually. 

Second Helpings, whose motto is Transforming lives through the power of food, is that organization. It was started in 1998 by three chefs who saw a need to curtail food waste. Second Helpings has a three-part mission: food rescue, hunger relief, culinary job training.

“It’s more than just nourishing our bodies,” said Adriane Rios, manager of volunteer services. “It’s kind of nourishing your soul on a deeper level.”

Southport High School family and consumer sciences teacher Raye Jordan was looking for volunteer work in the fall of 2016 when she ran across Second Helpings, which needed help on Thursday evenings. Her church only offered volunteer programs during the day, and that didn’t fit into Jordan’s time schedule. 

It wasn’t long before she was taking her students. “It’s got a little special place in my heart,” Jordan said, “because I know that we’re giving back and helping those who need it.”

Southport is one of many schools that has students who volunteer at Second Helpings; however, Southport is the only school whose students volunteer monthly, according to Rios. 

The agency is a volunteer-driven organization in Downtown Indianapolis with 28 staff members and about 750 volunteers. Volunteers rescue food that would be thrown away by restaurants and stores, prepare meals, deliver food, man the front desk, do laundry and even tend to the garden.

Volunteers have the opportunity to go through the whole process of Second Helpings, starting out with rescuing the food and ending with delivering it to places in need. The majority of volunteers spend their time in the kitchen, but if there is a need for a delivery driver or any other position, volunteers are happy to help.

“It’s always really neat when you hear of a volunteer who has rescued the food; they’ve been in the kitchen; they’ve prepared the food; then they’ve also delivered the food,” said Rios, who can be emailed at [email protected] for more information. “I think they get a much richer volunteer experience that way.”

Rios said she enjoys having student volunteers from Southport. Each person who comes in a group on Thursday has the opportunity to bring their friends with them. Rios says there have been students who have come on a Thursday and returned Saturday with their friends for an orientation program.

Jordan is open to bringing anyone who wants to go with her. She enjoys watching students use their cooking skills to help others and give back to the city. Jordan has noticed that student are typically quiet on the way to Second Helpings, but on the way home they have plenty to talk about.
​
“Usually when the kids leave they’re ready to go back,” said Jordan, who can be contacted at [email protected]. “It makes you feel really good that you can do something to help others.”

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    July 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All
    Arts & Entertainment
    Lead Story
    Sports: 500
    Sports: Basketball
    Sports: Track

    RSS Feed

 DROP OFF: The Toy Drop 6025 Madison Ave., Suite D
Indianapolis, IN  46227  |  317-781-0023
MAILING ADDRESS: P.O. Box 17187, Indianapolis, IN 46217

[email protected] | [email protected]
Website by IndyTeleData, Inc.