Volunteers

Those names and faces belong to our friends and neighbors. Because, on the front line of hunger relief, we have learned that the reason people require help is as varied as the people we serve. ...

Gina Howey, and her husband, Walter Burstein, were busy family doctors in Ventura County before they went into semi-retirement and began volunteering with Food Share in 2020. They stopped to chat on their way back from an early morning “bread run” about Gina’s passion for truck driving and how food insecurity can hide in plain sight. “A Harvester newsletter came to the house, and I was reading about volunteer opportunities,” says Gina Howey, explaining how she and...

Dave Orr, a volunteer who runs Food Share’s gleaning program, is passionate about saving crops from being wasted. “We are so lucky to live in an area with abundant fresh food, yet so many people in our community can’t afford to buy it at the supermarket,” he notes. “Gleaning gets fresh food that would go to waste onto the tables of people who really need it.” Dave Orr Dave started gleaning with Food Share about eight years ago....

Traci's Story Traci has volunteered at the pantry throughout the pandemic. Traci is a volunteer at Still Water Pantry and has been one of a small group working throughout the pandemic to feed the increasing numbers of people seeking help.  “I’m a survivor of domestic violence. It left me with PTSD and I have a lot of anxiety and depression. I ended up homeless on the streets for six months until I found a shelter in Santa Monica....

25 years of service and counting! Dave Bratz is one of the most beloved and dedicated members of the Food Share family. He’s served Food Share for 25 years, as both a volunteer and a former member of the Board of Directors. “You meet nice people when you volunteer,” says Dave Bratz, who would certainly know this after 25 years volunteering at Food Share. Dave first became involved in 1995, shortly after retiring, when...