The volunteers of MFB Peoria selflessly give of their time and talents to benefit those struggling with food insecurity. They bring the MFB mission to life every day. On July 31, the MFB Peoria staff honored them with a volunteer appreciation party.

More than 50 volunteers came for brunch, prizes, fun, and fellowship. Hosted at the same time as the Beijing Olympics, our theme was "Olympic Volunteer Champions". Brunch menu items included mini egg breakfast muffins, fruit, sausage, bacon, cinnamon rolls, coffeeand juice. In addition to a fun photo booth, prize drawings were held to recognize and thank volunteers. Prizes were various items procured from local businesses, MFB gear, or other items created from Pinterest.

It was a great time for MFB Peoria staff to recognize and thank volunteers by emphasizing their accomplishments. For example, a grocery route volunteer has driven approximately 9600 miles this year to collect about $1 million worth of food.

  • Office/Front Desk/Bookkeeping/Inventory Record-Keeping volunteers were thanked for the endless tasks that they do to keep things in motion and organized. 
  • MFB Ambassadors were recognized for having hosted around 200 projects so far this year, leading about 1500 volunteers. 
  • CDL volunteers were thanked for having driven about 54,000 miles this year. 
  • Forklift volunteers were recognized for the countless pallets of food they unload, load, shelve, and relocate every day. 
  • Distribution volunteers were thanked for having moved close to 350,000 cases of food out the doors his year. 

Many Volunteers reported how inspiring it was for them to consider the actual work that they accomplished together. Once they had a visual of how much they were doing to those in need, several indicated that this only created more passion in them.