Sherrie Dentley lost her job and her father within the span of a few months. It all happened just as the Covid-19 pandemic triggered stay-at-home orders across the entire city during the early days of the pandemic in 2020. But instead of shutting herself off from the community, she wanted to do more.
Dentley, a native of the Chatham neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, is a regular volunteer at the Food Depository. She also serves as a Volunteer Ambassador, guiding other volunteers and helping repack sessions at the Food Depository warehouse run smoothly.
It’s the knowledge that she and the rest of her fellow volunteers are making a difference that keeps Dentley coming back week after week.
Dentley is part of a large, dedicated community of volunteers who make the work of the Food Depository and its partners possible. Every day, volunteers roll up their sleeves to provide food at food pantries, meal programs and distributions across Chicago and Cook County, participate in repack sessions at the Food Depository warehouse, support one of our FRESH Truck locations, or serve as volunteer drivers.
The people who give their time to the Food Depository’s mission come from all walks of life. They are retirees, high school students, working professionals and families. Some have faced hardship themselves. What they share is a passion for ending hunger in their communities.
Eddy Gonzalez, 35, said he feels privileged to not struggle with food insecurity. His family emigrated from Guatemala to Chicago when he was 3 years old. His parents worked hard – his father in a factory and his mother in housekeeping – and built a modest life for him and his brother. When the family visited their home country, Gonzalez remembers being struck by seeing other families facing poverty and hunger.
“The benefit of your volunteer time, of your work here, will literally mean somebody can eat.”
Eddy Gonzalez, Food Depository volunteer
In fiscal year 2022, more than 10,300 volunteers dedicated approximately 71,000 hours of their time and talent to help the Food Depository repack and distribute food so that families can put meals on the table. And every day at our partner food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters, thousands more volunteers work on the front lines to ensure families have access to nutritious food.
Several improvements implemented last year made volunteer opportunities more accessible to people throughout Cook County. A new Food Depository volunteer website connects people with daily volunteer opportunities across our network. Monthly Spanish-language repack sessions – El Reempaque – make volunteering more equitable for all Chicagoans. Kids Days, which had been on hold since the pandemic, also returned. These special repack sessions, hosted one Saturday a month, introduce families and groups with children to volunteering.
Volunteers are the heart and soul of the Food Depository. In a time of elevated need, our partnership with volunteers throughout Chicago and Cook County are making a difference in the lives of our neighbors facing hunger.
