Volunteering at the L.A. Regional Food Bank

When I attended The Ohio State University, we were always given so many opportunities to volunteer and give back to our communities. After living in Los Angeles for about 4 years now, both the camaraderie of my school and the amazing community service have both been dearly missed! I’ve joined a special alumni group, OSU Alumni Club of Los Angeles (OSULA), whose mission is to promote The Ohio State University through communications, community relations, student recruitment, fellowship and networking while offering opportunities for continued friendship and service to The Ohio State University. OSULA represents Buckeye fans based in several Southern California counties, including Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

Recently, I got to join my fellow Buckeye volunteers in giving back at the L.A. Regional Food Bank! Currently, 1 in 5 people in Los Angeles experience hunger, but since 1973, the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank has distributed more than 1.9 billion pounds of food. The Food Bank collects food from hundreds of resources and with the help of 15,000 volunteers annually, and an agency network of more than 600 partner agencies, they serve more than 800,000 people on a monthly basis!

I was joined by about 25 other alumni where we helped sort and pack produce (fresh fruits and vegetables) into five-pound bags to be shipped out and distributed out to families and individuals in need. They split up all the volunteers into two different packing groups – either potatoes or onions. My group got the onions, and luckily, no tears were shed!

In total, we helped pack and sort 15,600lbs of produce! These will specifically be distributed to low-income seniors, women with infants, and children across LA County. It felt amazing to be apart of such a great cause and I’m grateful my alumni association introduced me to it. I can’t wait to see what other volunteer opportunities come up next!