Volunteer Opportunities with LFC

Volunteer for Local Foods Connection
to RSVP for any of these activities, email us!
1. Long Term Commitment Opportunities
A. Become a Family Friend
B. Food Delivery
C. Manage Local Foods Connection’s Calendar

2. Short Term Commitment Opportunities
A. Write For Our Education Program
B. Farm Work Days

3. Other Opportunities

**1. Long Term Commitments***

A. Become a Family Friend

6 month commitment – 2 hours/month
May to October
Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and Des Moines
Attend a training session; work from home

You will be assigned one of our clients to call every two weeks. During the phone conversation, you will:

-ask the client if she picked up her food the past two weeks
-if she has any questions about the produce in her share box
-remind her to visit a farm at least once during the season
-ask if she is participating in any of our educational activities and if she needs help completing a project.

Background Information:  Each client family is required to pickup their box of produce every week.  If they are unable to, they are asked to let us know and possibly to arrange to get their box at another time. If a client misses two pick-ups without calling us, her family might be removed from the program.

Each client family is strongly encouraged to participate in our education program. We give the families an activity book at the beginning of the season. Examples of activities available include visiting a farm, reading a book and writing a review, and sharing vegetables with a neighbor or friend. Books, DVDs, and cooking classes are made available at no cost to the client.  We can offer a client compensation for gas to travel to a farm.

More detailed instructions will be emailed to volunteers.

B. Food Delivery

6 month commitment – 4 to 8 hours/month
May to October
Iowa City, Cedar Rapids
Car required; gas reimbursement provided

Every week or every other week, depending upon your availability, pick up food from a farmer drop-off site in Iowa City and drive to smaller distribution sites around town.

C. Manage Local Foods Connection’s (LFC) Calendar

6 month commitment – 1 to 2 hours/week
Begin at any time
Work from home but reconnect with us for 2 hours a month in Iowa City office

Keep in contact with our administrative volunteers so you know what is happening in organization.  Enter all appointments, conferences, events, deadlines and other important dates in our calendars and ensure reminders go out to the right people in a timely manner.

***2. Short Term Commitments***

A. Write For Our Education Program

2 to 5 hours per project
Iowa City, Cedar Rapids, Des Moines
Work from home

Are you a chef with a variety of cooking experiences? Are you a registered dietitian or a licensed nutritionist? Are you a farmer who practices alternative agriculture? If so, you can create an educational pamphlet for our clients. Our pamphlets are short, fact-filled and fun. They cover a variety of topics, such as: asparagus, how to read nutrition labels and frost on the farm. Examples and more detailed instructions will be given to volunteers.

B. Farm Work Days

Sat March 28: Solon
Sun March 29: West Branch
Sat April 11: Solon
Sat April 18: West Branch
Sun April 19: Solon
Sat April 25: Atalissa
Sun April 26: Solon, West Branch
Sat May 2: West Branch
Sun May 3: Solon

You will be doing farm work on a small, local farm that practices sustainable agriculture. In exchange for your volunteer labor, the farmer will give Local Foods Connection credit towards food purchases. No farm experience is required! The farmers will teach you what to do.

To Sign Up

-Give us your phone number and an email address that you check frequently. If the weather is very bad, the farmer might cancel, and we will need to call you.

-Send us a confirmation email saying you will attend the work session for which we’ve registered you.

Getting to the Farm

-Meet us at the farm at 10:30 a.m. LFC will help pay for gas.

-A limited number of carpooling rides are available. Let us know right away if you need a ride.

-If you have a car, please let us know if you can offer rides to other people.

Preparation for Farm Work

-Dress in layers. It might be colder or hotter on a farm than in town. The wind is stronger in some rural areas than in town. You might be working in a greenhouse or a barn and need to take off layers.

-Bring a hat. Bring suntan lotion.

-Be prepared to get dirty! Bring old towels, garbage bags or similar item to cover your car seats and floors to protect them from mud. You might want to bring a change of shoes, so dirty shoe souls don’t mess up your floors and pedals. You can even bring a change of clothes.

-Bring a bottle of water.

-Farmers will provide necessary tools for working.

-Please show up for the farm work day for which you’ve enrolled! The farmers will prepare for group projects, and if volunteers don’t show up, they will have lost valuable time.

***3. Other Opportunities***

If you have a skill or a talent you would like to share with Local Foods Connection, let us know! We will try to match your interests with our projects and needs.