How to Get Involved
Volunteer Opportunities
There are many ways one can help with the duties of the cooperative. While volunteering is not required of your membership it is encouraged! Volunteering provides you with insight into the inner workings of the cooperative and the importance of each members' investment in the cooperative.
Maintaining this investment with positive customer service is crucial to the growth and health of our cooperative. Afterall, by developing our own delivery structure we are in a sense replacing what many giant food companies have already perfected. The difference is our focus is local, natural and sustainable, and providing the freshest food around.
Volunteer opportunities are not limited to what is listed here. If you see a way to help the cooperative with your skills please don't hesitate to contact us. Unless a specific contact is listed, you can contact Libby, the Volunteer Coordinator at volunteer@nebraskafood.org or call 1-800-993-2379.
A volunteer list serv is also in place and new volunteer opportunities are posted monthly. New members automatically receive emails from this list serv, but the option to "opt out" of these additional emails is available.
How Do You Help?
Delivery Day: Delivery Day is the most important activity for the cooperative. It is the Day when all food is delivered by its various routes and prepared for customer pick-up. Delivery Day occurs once a month falling on a Thursday every four weeks. It is an all day affair and relies on several processes and procedures throughout the day. One can help just about any time of the day with the procedures. Come for an AM or PM shift or come all day and experience the wonderful effort that goes into this process. Not to mention it's a great social event!
- Volunteers are needed at the Hub Sites to help receive the food orders from producers and sort customer orders.
- Volunteers to make route deliveries to pick-up sites
- Volunteers to help at pick-up sites
- Volunteers to make home deliveries
Hub Site Drivers receive mileage reimbursement for their service when transporting cooperative orders Hub to Hub.
Details about Delivery Day are provided in the monthly Volunteer Newsletter sent out to the membership.
Join A Committee:
Budget and Finance committee - This is for those of you who know your numbers! Any accounting and/or finance skills are welcomed and appreciated. Maybe you can help Randy Wattermann, Treasurer, for NFC with crunching those numbers for the producers and shoppers after Deliver Day. Our website software facilitates with some accounting.
Contact: Randy at treasurer@nebraskafood.org
Membership and Education Committee - If you like to teach and share information, this committee is for you. This committee is looking for individuals interested in facilitating educational workshops with the community about the value of local and fresh foods. Other aspects include educational progam development, writing a newsletter, and membership recruitment. An example of a recent project involved conducting a membership survey.
Contact: membership@nebraskafood.org
Marketing and Public Relations Committee - This committee executes, approves, and distributes all media materials and relations going out of the Coop and field any media and press requests coming into the Coop. Recent projects include the establishment of a logo, and the creation of brochures and business cards.
Transport and Delivery Committee - Maybe you are a logistics person who understands the relationship between distance, time, and space. This committee studies the logistics of the Coop's delivery structure and works on developing it's growth. The cooperative has a Delivery Truck equipped with deep chest freezers. The committee is currently looking at ways to effectively put this delivery truck into motion.
To join a committee contact the emails listed or the Volunteer Coordinator at volunteer@nebraskafood.org.
Planning for Events: Maybe you're a good planner, organized, and detail-oriented. So far NFC events include the Annual Banquet and the Senators' Breakfast at the Capital. These events require coordination of publicity, catering, menus, producer relations and arrangements, facility rental, setup and cleanup.
Speakers' Bureau: Be an Ambassador for NFC. The cooperative attends many local events where info booths can be displayed and/or gives presentations at local meetings. We are always looking for individuals to represent NFC at these events.
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