Welcome to The Food Depot, Volunteers!

Warehouse Volunteer Job Description

Objective: Volunteers at The Food Depot warehouse primarily evaluate the quality of donated food and repack food purchased in bulk into smaller packages. Both of these activities prepare food acquired by The Food Depot for distribution to people in need.

Location: 1222 A Siler Road, Santa Fe, NM 87507

Supervisor: Volunteer Coordinator, Pauline Montoya, or Volunteer Program Manager, Steven Bolin

Key Responsibilities:  

• Evaluating the quality of donated and bulk purchased foods
• Sorting donated food
• Repackaging bread, produce, and bulk dry goods
• Packaging pantry and produce bag/boxes
• Repackaging donated and purchased diapers

Qualifications:

• Ability to lift 20 pounds
• Sure-footed and able to stand for an entire 2.5-hour shift
• Ability to complete repetitive motions, bend, lift and twist
• Ability and willingness to work as part of a team
• Ability and willingness to accept guidance and instructions from staff

Dress Code: Closed-toed, non-slip shoes; clean long pants or shorts (depending on the task) and The Food Depot logoed sleeved shirts; hair pulled back into a hairnet, excessive or dangly jewelry removed.

Time Commitment: One or more shifts a month.

Schedule Intervals: Shifts are daily, M-F, either 9 – 11:30 AM (Morning Shift) or 1:30 – 4 PM (Afternoon Shift).

Guest Relations Volunteer Job Description

Objective:  This volunteer position will play a critical role in helping The Food Depot work toward its mission of fostering healthy, hunger-free communities in Northern New Mexico. Specifically, the Volunteer Reception and Administrative Assistant will greet visitors, provide customer service and help with various tasks assigned by staff while following COVID safety protocols. By staffing the front desk, this volunteer position increases The Food Depot’s efficiency by allowing staff members focus on other tasks.

Location: 1222 A Siler Road, Santa Fe, NM 87507

Supervisor: Volunteer Coordinator, Pauline Montoya

Key Responsibilities:  

• Greet guest at the front door in a courteous and customer friendly manner
• Answer any questions about The Food Depot or directs them to the email of someone that can better assist them.
• Assist staff with office projects, such as filing, mail sorting, etc.
• Reports to assigned shift(s) and gives advanced notice for absences.
• Greet visitors and directs them to other offices, locations and staff members.
• Provides excellent and friendly customer service.
• Instructs volunteers and community service volunteers on sign-in procedures.
• Helps prepare mailings.
• Documents and prepares receipts for monetary donations.
• Assists with filing projects.
• Utilizes mailing, fax and copy machines.
• Assists with data entry on the computer, as assigned.
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Excellent customer service skills
• Schedule flexibility
• Ability to communicate clearly
• Dependable, organized and detail-oriented.
• Willingness to perform repetitive tasks.
• Desire to help end food insecurity in Northern New Mexico.
• Bilingual/biliterate is encouraged, but not required

Dress Code: Dress comfortably and business casual

Time Commitment: One scheduled two to four hour shift each week. Volunteers in this role will experience a varying work flow and may experience periods of inactivity while waiting for assignments.

Schedule Intervals: Shifts are daily between 8:30 AM – 4:30 PM. The Guest Relations Volunteer will serve a trial period of three shifts to ensure the volunteer is comfortable and an appropriate fit for the duties assigned.  The first shift will be a training shift.  After the trial period, the volunteer will be asked to commit to at least one shift a week for a period of two months. The volunteer will be expected to give advanced notice for planned absences and notice as soon as possible for unplanned absences (sickness, etc.).

Distribution Volunteer Activity Description

Objective: Santa Fe County has a high number of residents who have limited access to full-service grocery stores that offer the fresh produce and affordable foods necessary to maintain a healthy diet. The Food Depot offers a biweekly food pantry program, seeking to eliminate hunger in our local community. This program was born out of a great need stemming from COVID. This program provides an avenue by which nutritious food can be provided free of charge to families and individuals in need. Providing this much needed food improves the health and lives of the most vulnerable people of Northern New Mexico, many of them seniors and children.

Location: 1222 A Siler Road, Santa Fe, NM 87507

Supervisor: Volunteer Coordinator, Pauline Montoya

Key Responsibilities:  

• Greet and welcome every person in every car or walkup guest, especially during registration.
• Register each car with number of households and family members in those households.
• Hand out flyers for next distribution and alternative MFPs or distributions, as well as any other announcements and updates.
• Traffic Control to ensure that cars are driving through correct path.
• Engage with clients respectfully to answer any/all questions, as needed.
• Place prepacked food or produce into vehicles for guests, according to number of households.

Qualifications:

• Clear and effective communicator
• Ability to respect the client relationship in communicating and privacy
• Flexible schedule
• Excellent customer service skills
• Bilingual/biliterate is encouraged, but not required

Dress Code: Closed-toed, non-slip shoes; clean long pants or shorts (depending on the elements) and The Food Depot logoed sleeved shirts.

Time Commitment: One shift or more a month. Shifts are typically 2.5 hours.

Schedule Intervals: Distributions are every other Thursday morning from 6:30 – 9 AM.

The Food Mobile

Objective: The Food Mobile is used to create a positive guest experience that involves as much choice as possible. The Food Mobile will be used to serve neighborhoods and communities in and near Santa Fe. The Food Mobile has the capacity to provide enough food for a distribution to <100 households.

Location: Varies according to site.

Supervisor: Volunteer Coordinator, Pauline Montoya or Programs Coordinator, Mary Ocampo

Key Responsibilities:  

• Greet and welcome every person in every car, especially during registration.
• Hands out the menu (on a clipboard with a pen) to each car and provides an explanation of how to fill out the menu.
• Hand out flyers for next Food Mobile and alternative distributions, as well as any other announcements and updates.
• Traffic Control if the food mobile line is long, ensure that cars are parking in appropriate and designated areas.
• Engage with clients respectfully to answer any/all questions, as needed.
• Instruct cars to hand their completed menu to the people at the bus once they drive up.
• A “runner” can collect menus from clients and bring them to the staff in the bus who are pulling orders.
• Direct clients to park their car in a designated spot while their order is fulfilled.

Qualifications:

• Clear and effective communicator
• Flexible schedule
• Excellent customer service skills
• Bilingual/biliterate is encouraged, but not required

Dress Code: Closed-toed, non-slip shoes; clean long pants or shorts (depending on elements) and The Food Depot logoed sleeved shirts;

Time Commitment: One or more shift a month at the location or your preference.

Schedule Intervals: The Food Mobile is generally 3-4 days a week, Tuesday – Friday.

Mobile Food Pantry Volunteer Job Description

Objective: Rural Northern New Mexico has a high number of ‘food deserts’, where residents have limited access to full-service grocery stores that offer the fresh produce and affordable foods necessary to maintain a healthy diet. The Mobile Food Pantry program seeks to eliminate hunger in rural, isolated communities throughout Northern New Mexico. This program provides an avenue by which nutritious food can be provided free of charge to families and individuals in need. Providing this much needed food improves the health and lives of the most vulnerable people of rural Northern New Mexico, many of them seniors and children.

The Mobile Food Pantry operates like a bookmobile. The Food Depot, with the help of community volunteers, distributes food directly from the delivery truck with no need for long-term storage. This service reaches communities that do not have the resources to set up their own food pantries.

The program also offers a venue for other services essential to well-being such as health screenings, flu shots and nutrition education.

Location: Varies according to the site.

Supervisor: Volunteer Coordinator, Pauline Montoya or Program Development Specialist, Billie Secular

Key Responsibilities:  

• Greet and welcome every person in every car or walkup guest, especially during registration.
• Hand out flyers for next MFP and alternative distributions, as well as any other announcements and updates.
• Traffic Control to ensure that cars are parking in appropriate and designated areas or driving through correct path.
• Engage with clients respectfully to answer any/all questions, as needed.
• Place prepacked food or produce into vehicles for guests, according to number of households.

Qualifications:

• Clear and effective communicator
• Flexible schedule
• Excellent customer service skills
• Bilingual/biliterate is encouraged, but not required

Dress Code: Closed-toed, non-slip shoes; clean long pants or shorts (depending on elements) and The Food Depot logoed sleeved shirts.

Time Commitment: One or more shift a month at the location or your preference.

Schedule Intervals: Varies depending on MFP.

Diaper Depot Volunteer Activity Description

Objective: One in three families in America struggles to afford diapers for their children. Diapers are a basic need, as essential to children’s health and well-being as food and shelter. The Food Depot’s Diaper Depot seeks to address this need. The Volunteer Diaper Depot Assistant will work with the Resource Navigator to distribute diapers, baby food and formula, and resource information during the two weekly diaper distributions. During these times there are intervals of being very busy and regular slow periods. Bilingualism in Spanish/English would be helpful in this position but is not required. It is also an excellent opportunity for those learning Spanish to practice that language.  

Location: 1222 A Siler Road, Santa Fe, NM 87507 - Lobby

Supervisor: Navigation Coordinators, Vilma Salinas and Kayla Bostic

Key Responsibilities:  

• Reports to assigned shift consistently and gives advanced notice for absences.
• Provides excellent and friendly customer service.
• Assists resource navigator in setting up and taking down distribution station (e.g. packs of diapers, tables, signs, etc.)
• Assists resource navigator in distributing diapers, baby food, and baby formula to program participants and recording name and phone number of participants.
• Informs program participants about available community food resources such as The Food Depot drive-through distributions.  
• Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

• Dependable, organized and detail-oriented
• Social and able to provide friendly customer service
• Ability to lift 25 pounds
• Able to stand for the entire 3-hour shift
• Ability to complete repetitive motions, bend, lift and twist
• Bilingual/Biliterate in Spanish/English helpful but not essential

Dress Code: Closed-toed, non-slip shoes; clean long pants or shorts (depending on the elements) and The Food Depot logoed sleeved shirts.

Time Commitment: One scheduled 3 hour shift each week. Volunteers in this role will experience a varying work flow and may experience periods of inactivity while waiting for assignments. Volunteers are asked to commit to at least two shifts each month.

Schedule Intervals: Shifts are Tuesday mornings 8:15 – 11:15 AM and Thursday afternoons 3:15 – 6:15 PM.

Casita de Comida Volunteer Activity Description

Objective: Volunteers at The Food Depot’s Casita de Comida primarily assist TFD staff with providing community members accessing our services with the best customer service experience at Casita.

Location: 628 N. Riverside Drive, Española, NM 87532

Supervisor: Navigation Manager, Vilma Salinas, or Volunteer Program Manager, Steven Bolin

Key Responsibilities:  

• Assisting TFD staff with registration, as needed
• Stocking areas with both commodity and non-commodity foods
• Assisting community members with their shopping experience
• Assisting TFD staff with checkout, as needed
• Assisting with Diaper Depot Program help at the Casita location

Qualifications:

• Excellent customer service skills
• Ability to lift up to 50 pounds*
• Sure-footed and able to stand for an entire 3–4-hour shift
• Ability to complete repetitive motions, bend, lift and twist
• Ability and willingness to work as part of a team
• Ability and willingness to accept guidance and instructions from staff
• Have a positive and warm attitude
• Must be FULLY Vaccinated and have at least one booster for COVID

Dress Code: Closed-toed, non-slip shoes; clean and comfortable long pants or shorts (depending on the task) and The Food Depot logoed sleeved shirts; excessive or dangly jewelry removed.

Time Commitment: One or more shifts a month.

Schedule Intervals: TBD

*Subject to change, depending on resources available