Earlier this spring, a group from Ross Medical Education Center in Niles, Ohio volunteered at the Second Harvest Food Bank in Youngstown, Ohio. Campus Director Shayla Gainer, Assistant Campus Director of Education Dominque Wiley, and several Ross students from the Medical Assistant program, Medical Insurance Billing and Office Administration program, Dental Assistant program, and Pharmacy Technician program donated their time to this worthy organization and the people it serves.
The Ross group spent time packing food in the Second Harvest Food Bank warehouse that would be distributed to pantries all over Youngstown. The team of staff, faculty, and students participated in a current project that packages cereal from large 200 pound boxes into smaller bags that can be given to area families. Members of the group labeled bags, filled each one with a pound of cereal from the large boxes, and then boxed the smaller bags for easy pick up and delivery. Over the time they were there, the team was able to bag and box the contents of two 200 pound boxes into the bags and boxes that would be given to families in the community.
Paige, the Volunteer Coordinator at Second Harvest Food Bank, provided a tour of the warehouse. She also spent time answering questions and explained that supplies are provided to senior citizens in the community and that food can also be dropped off at local city schools where parents are able to pick up food for their families. Tiffany Hodgkiss, a volunteer and a student in the Dental Assistant program at Ross, shared that she “really enjoyed the experience and would like to return to volunteer again.” Many of the other volunteers agreed, sharing that they looked forward to coming back on their own and with their families in the future to serve.
To find out more about this organization and how you can help, visit the Second Harvest Food Bank Facebook page or their website at www.secondharvestfoodbank.org.