A great way to give back during the holiday season (and all year round) is to serve meals to the homeless or hungry. Follow these tips and give a great gift they will never forget.
How do I volunteer?
- Search our volunteer database. You can do a super quick online search of “Soup Kitchen + Your Town Name" or check your local yellow pages to find a soup kitchen in your area.
- Soup kitchens get a ton of volunteers around the holidays. If they say they have enough, just ask what else you can do to help.
- If you can't find a shelter, try a retirement home.
What should I expect when I get there?
- Most soup kitchens have four or five hour daily volunteer shifts.
- For some volunteer jobs, like delivering food to people, you may need training – for others, like serving food, you can start right away.
- You may be asked to help prepare food, pick up donations, take inventory of food, and clean up.
What else should I know?
- Some soup kitchens have a Food Pantry too. See if you can collect donations for your local food pantry at your school.
- Be a part of our Pantry Prep [1] food drive collection and read our tips on how to have to a collection drive. [2]
- Soup kitchens and food pantries need help year-round. Make it a monthly or weekly habit to volunteer for a day. Don’t forget to ask your friends and family to join!
Another way to take action is by collecting jeans for homeless teens. GO [3]