Local nonprofit Tikkun Ha Ir is accepting volunteers for its Veggie Chop Shop, a Harambee-based community meal program organized to help provide healthy meals to low-income families and those in need.
The Veggie Chop Shop accepts volunteers from all over Milwaukee County and has multiple volunteer roles available, including cooks, drivers and more. In addition to neighborhood volunteers, the program works alongside Milwaukee Women’s Correctional Center, allowing incarcerated volunteers to help serve the community.
Outside of preparing meals, volunteers can cook the meals from the Veggie Chop Shop and deliver them to partnering organizations that distribute the meals to area families. Those partners include Meta House, Nia Imani Family and the Cathedral Center.
Volunteers who prefer gathering to cooking can participate in the “Gleaning” program, which has volunteers visit local farmers markets to collect donations, such as fruits and vegetables, before they go to waste.
Typically, the Veggie Chop Shop lasts about three months, but this year it will run for 10 weeks, ending on Sept.15.
How to sign up and volunteer
Sign up is required to volunteer, and spots are now open.
Each shift and job has its own form, which includes details such as dates, times and locations for the shift.
Register: Sign up for a volunteer role here.
Gleaning
Where: Brown Deer Farmers Market and the Fondy’s Farmers Market
When: Wednesdays from 2 to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 12:30 to 3 p.m., respectively.
Requirements: Volunteers can be 5 and older but children from ages 5 to 12 must be accompanied by a guardian. Volunteers should be able to lift and carry 15 to 20 pounds.
Cooking and chopping
Where: All People’s Gathering Church
When: Mondays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Requirements: On Mondays, volunteers must be 18 or older. On Tuesdays volunteers can be 8 and up.
Delivery
Where: All People’s Gathering Church
When: Occasional Mondays starting at 2 p.m. and every Tuesday at 2 p.m.
Requirements: Drivers must be 18 or older and have a valid driver’s license.
Everett Eaton covers Harambee for the Journal Sentinel’s Neighborhood Dispatch. Contact: eeaton@usatodayco.com.
Neighborhood Dispatch reporting is supported by Bader Philanthropies, Zilber Foundation, Journal Foundation, Northwestern Mutual Foundation, Greater Milwaukee Foundation, and reader contributions to the Journal Sentinel Community-Funded Journalism Project. Journal Sentinel editors maintain full editorial control over all content. To support this work, visit jsonline.com/support. Checks can be addressed to Local Media Foundation (memo: “JS Community Journalism”) and mailed to P.O. Box 85015, Chicago, IL 60689
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee nonprofit seeks volunteers for Harambee meal program
Reporting by Everett Eaton, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Everett Eaton, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
