Volunteer Day at Community Food Share

Ocean First   Jul 06, 2022

As a Certified B-Corp, Ocean First is committed to using our business as a force for good. The Colorado B-Local community makes it easy to find ways to engage our employees and provide opportunities to turn words into action.

February's B of Service day was spent at Community Food Share, a food bank whose mission is to eliminate hunger in Boulder and Broomfield Counties. In Colorado, one in 10 residents and one in six children experience hunger daily.  Through donations and volunteer forces large and small, Community Food Share is able to provide fresh and shelf-stable food to families, seniors, and other individuals who struggle with hunger in Boulder and Broomfield Counties.

A collection of volunteers from Conscious Coffees, The Tea Spot, Ever Better, Organic India USA, and Ocean First spend a handful of hours at the facility assist where help was needed. Half of us were tasked with sorting through potatoes and the other half sorted oranges. Ocean First staff, including Marlee, Scott, Kim, Bruce G, Kathy, and Kathy's two daughters, worked on the latter.

During winter months, Community Food Share purchases heavily discounted fresh produce from other states to supplement local donations – this is where the oranges came from, destined for their Feeding Families program. We bagged small bunches of oranges while tossing rotten or moldy oranges into a bin that would go to a local pig farm (the circle continues!).

In 3 hours, the B-Corp group sorted a literal TON of potatoes and 1,500 pounds of oranges. The collective hours our group put in equals to about 2,880 meals distributed to families in need.

6,600 people volunteer with Community Food Share every year, providing 44% of their labor - without the help of people like our group, they would not be able to open their doors!