Volunteer Spotlight: Food Rescue

"If you want to give back to your community, help those less fortunate, and feel good about the work you're doing then being a food runner is the right job for you"

Linda Roy has been making food rescue runs for MACC Charities for about a year. She first heard about MACC when she was an employee at J.C. Penny in the Buckland Hills Mall. Each year during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday the company ran a fundraiser called "Holiday Share" during which they collected monetary, food, and clothing donations. "Seeing how much our hard work was appreciated and seeing how hard MACC works to deliver those donations to people in need, I knew i wanted to continue working with such a wonderful organization after I retired", Linda said.

Linda started off slowly with a weekly run at Stop & Shop picking up donations from the MACC bin at the front of the store. After two months she was eager to get more involved and signed up for an additional deli pick up at Stop and Shop as well as a Friday bread and baked goods pick up at BJ's Wholesale.

Completing these runs is quick and easy for Linda. At each location she arrives around 9am and is greeted by employees who have the items packed up and ready to go. Linda loads them into her car and drives them the 5-10 minute distance to MACC where volunteers are waiting to help her unload her car and stock the donations in the soup kitchen and food pantry. "I love doing my weekly runs, it keeps me busy, and it makes me proud that I can contribute my time in such a rewarding way" Linda said.