Sorority gives food bank volunteered time

Members of the Alpha Gamma Delta sorority are “giving back” by donating time — rather than money — to the Hoosier Hills Food Bank.

“I saw that we weren’t volunteering as much as I would have liked us to,” said junior Heather Whitaker, external philanthropy chairwoman. “We get a lot of opportunities through other organizations, but I wanted it to be a more regular thing.”

Last semester, the women brainstormed different organizations to help and ultimately chose — through a vote at a chapter meeting — to volunteer for the food bank.
Whitaker said the house has close ties with the food bank; an alumna of the house founded the Friends of Hoosier Hills Food Bank club at IU.

Five to 10 girls volunteer every other Monday, organizing and repacking food for several hours.

Senior Claire Troutman is a dietetics major who, through her interest in nutrition and food, already had a personal interest to volunteer but is now more involved then ever before.

“I think Monroe County is one of the poorest counties in Indiana, and the food bank serves surrounding counties,” Troutman said. “Being fortunate, fairly middle-class well-off people who can afford our own food, it’s important to reach out to the community that isn’t as lucky.”

Kai Westerfield, the volunteer coordinator for Hoosier Hills, said AGD volunteers as much as other organizations and is a staple among the community partners and IU students who are dedicated to volunteering on a biweekly basis.

Westerfield said she is grateful for the help. The girls mostly repack food, which involves taking donated food and assembling it into boxes and packages for individual families.

“We not only want donations of money,” Westerfield said. “We want donations of food. But to get food, we need volunteers who will donate their time to go out into the community and get it.”

For now, Whitaker said she is trying to reschedule when AGD volunteers to accommodate more members’ schedules. She said she hopes the service and volunteer aspect of AGD will eventually expand, giving more time to HHFB and to other organizations in the Bloomington community.

“We, as college students, don’t always have money to donate. We have time to donate,” Whitaker said. “And it’s so much more important to know what you’re doing and get involved.”