Volunteer Newsletter – February/March 2026
We’ve come to the end of March rather quickly and it’s time once again for the bimonthly Volunteer Newsletter. If you are a recent volunteer, you can read archived newsletters in the link below.
Volunteer Newsletter
https://www.northamptonsurvival.org/volunteer-newsletter
We made it through a less-than-pleasant (weather-wise) winter and yet the friendly faces, happy attitudes, goodwill and open hearts of our volunteers kept a light on why we commit to the work we do!
With an increased number of snowy days this winter, which throws a wrench in our delivery programs and other client food services, it was nice to know that our volunteers were willing and flexible to alter schedules to accommodate last minute needs and changes.
February and March were quite busy for client food distribution whether in person, via our curbside program or our drive through service, or as deliveries to individual residences and housing sites. We served 2,350 individuals in 1,150 households during this time. Tens of thousands of pounds of food helped keep our neighbors fed.
All hands contributed to this enormous output and thanks go to all the NSC volunteers who are supported by our tremendous staff who in turn are recognized and supported by our dedicated Board of Directors.
During the first week of February, we had our first locker ‘after- hours’ pick-up which is another option clients can choose for placing their food order. We now have 8 clients signed up for this new program and are hopeful to bring more on board. It allows clients who cannot get to NSC during our hours, or for anonymity purposes, to place an order. They receive a code to unlock the locker(s) and access their order. Easy and manageable!
I know we all delight when Amy procures special food items that we can offer our clients and if you’ve been in the pantry anywhere near the bonus freezer you know that the pints of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream (and other brands) were a huge hit over the past three weeks. Earlier in the month, thanks to a restaurant grant, we were able to work with Bueno y Sano who provided us with close to 900 chicken burritos and veggie bowls, individually portioned over a two-week period. Clients were thrilled! Another bonus this month was three pallets of Minute Maid, Dunkin Donut iced coffee and Almond Milk donated from Coca Cola that allowed us to offer a different bonus beverage over three weeks. Thank you to the volunteers who did the daily pick up at Bueno and weekly pickup at Myers for the beverages during this time.
How much do Florence Bank employees love the work we do? Let me count the ways. In March alone they gave us a monetary donation and had a group of employees come down to the Center and help assemble shopping carts which our clients on foot are offered, if needed, to transport their groceries home. Many hands go a long way to help ease our clients’ access to groceries.
You will soon see some changes to the pantry, and a few have started to surface just this week. Our Program Staff are always looking to improve the efficiency of our limited space to utilize the pantry as productively as possible.
Much consideration is given to incorporating ideas and well thought out plans to maximize the flow in the pantry. Along with an emphasis on volunteer engagement, whether its stocking, packing orders, all the different delivery components, warehouse help, client facing or behind the scenes, we hope to increase the level of service and heighten the experience for those who need our services.
Extra thanks for always accepting the changes and the challenges!
Volunteer Anniversaries
Michael F 22 years
Liz L 17 years
Wendy P 10 years
Barry B 9 years
Julie S-R 7 years
Nacy G 5 years
Marge B 5 years
Lisa D 4 years
Jess and Miles 4 years
Jennifer A 4 years
Suzy A-J 4 years
Nancy W 3 years
Ann and Greg C 3 years
Andy T 2 years
Nort S 2 years
Mary D 1 year
Miranda W-B 1 year
Katy K-G 1 year
Ryan O 1 year
Northampton Survival Center was recently featured as the Non-Profit of the Month at Broadside Books in downtown Northampton. We are grateful that they once again chose to highlight our community work and client services.
Danielle, our Development Director, is reaching out to any visual artists among volunteers or anyone you know, to consider submitting your work for our NSC Thank You postcard, which we send annually to our donors. Some of these fabulous works of art include those by clients and kids! If your work is selected, you will receive $200.00
Here is a link to last year’s postcards https://www.northamptonsurvival.org/2025postchttp://www.wwlp.com/massappeal/kids-summer-food-program?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAYnJpZBExMk9lSzVFVzcwejJUak1TRwEeNho5-Zj8huBt6hdDmGO0tXL4r3-frI82MJ3VO40thtZSDQ87462nvSSt7w0_aem_xk-QzXfSIdN-lI-tZI7ifAards/
Client newsletter link
https://www.northamptonsurvival.org/pantry-digest/
Check out our archived Pantry Fresh recipes here
https://www.northamptonsurvival.org/pantry/fresh/
Upcoming April info:
Our wonderful volunteer Dorothy offers both in- pantry help on a weekly basis packing client orders and has an upcoming benefit for NSC. We hope you can attend and support Dorothy and the Survival Center!
Any Scrabble lovers among our volunteers? NSC is once again one of the recipients for this fundraiser. Come on down and join the fun!
April 1st may be April Fool’s Day but there’s no denying that we consider all of April National Volunteer Month.
We give thanks and appreciation for all the dedicated, compassionate hard work, effort and time our volunteers bring to the Survival Center (and I know many of you also volunteer for other organizations dear to your heart) and want to also recognize the extraordinary number of volunteer hours given to the Center month after month. Between April 1, 2025 and April 1st 2026 over 250 volunteers contributed 17,436 hours of service (an average of 1,453 hours) to NSC. We cannot thank you enough!
Upcoming NSC CLOSED Dates:
Monday, April 20th
Twice a year the office is closed for a staff project day for discussions regarding current and future pantry programs; how to better serve our clients; the impact each volunteer has our mission; how to keep our volunteers engaged and any other necessary items that are pertinent to the continued growth of the Northampton Survival Center.
Post Office Food Drive
As many of you know, I will be retiring as the Volunteer Manager as of June 30th. That means that I have one more Post Office Food Drive to coordinate!
The date is Saturday May 9th from 10-6pm. There are some changes being made this year to simplify and streamline the process of receiving upwards of 17,000 pounds of food in one day. Perhaps it’ll be our best year yet as a farewell to me!
Our first volunteer need will be the distribution of 7,000 bags to be distributed throughout residences in Northampton and Florence. Our intention is that residents will fill the bags with food which then get picked up on the 9th of May by the letter carriers and delivered to us here at the Center.
Unlike the last few years when we had separate flyers with pertinent information which needed to be inserted in each bag before delivery, we are now going back to the pre-printed orange heavy plastic bags. This will alleviate extra labor, cut down on costs, and keep the food intact better (especially if the weather is bad). The distribution maps may look a little different this year and volunteers will be able to sign up for areas ranging from 25 bags to 250 bags to be dropped at residences between April 29 and May 6.
All donations received on May 9th will go directly into empty banana boxes (we’ve been collecting a stash of boxes) and Pod 1 is just about filled. Pod 2 arrives later this week. Thanks to the volunteers who have been making trips to Stop and Shop and Aldi to grab boxes along with the volunteers stacking them in the Pod. Once the pods are full of the donated food the pods will be transported to Myers in Hatfield and we will bring a pallet down to NSC one at a time and have folks do quality control on each individual item.
There will be plenty of opportunities for volunteers to get trained in QC (quality control) before this event.
More info to follow.
Thanks for reading along!
With gratitude,
Diane