This winter Wholesome Riches had the honor of partnering with the Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine to receive third-year medical students Paisley Payne and Maftuna Yusupova at volunteers.
Paisley and Maftuna braved the cold to serve at several of our Love Your Neighbor Food Distributions at some of the schools we serve throughout Camden.
“It was a great experience because there was so much to do and you were definitely making an impact,” Paisley explains.
She says one of her favorite things about volunteering with Wholesome Riches is how organized the events are conducted, making it easy to understand the tasks she was assigned, which included:
– sorting non-perishable food items from the pallets dropped off by the Food Bank of South Jersey
– bagging fresh fruits and vegetables
– placing food into reusable grocery bags for easy pick-up by clients
– loading groceries into rolling carts for clients to bring to their vehicles or their homes if they live close to the distribution site
– setting up and breaking down sorting tables, bins, cardboard boxes and other materials
“I definitely know exactly what my role is when I come here, so I know how to help because they are so organized and I know I’m involved,” says Paisley.
She says she also really enjoys the interactions with fellow volunteers and the people we serve.
“You’re talking while your passing out the food and meeting people in the community,” she adds, “it’s an excellent experience.”
For Wholesome Riches, having young professionals like Rowan-Virtua medical students is an excellent way to create a pathway for Camden residents to get to know the people involved in the local health systems.
We thank Rowan-Virtua S.O.M. for sending us Paisley and Maftuna and look forward to receiving more of their student volunteers!