Every year, Second Harvest Food Bank honors and celebrates with some of the food bank’s most dedicated volunteers. It’s a time for us to acknowledge and thank volunteers for all of their time and hard work. It gives us a chance to invite them to lunch and award them with special recognition and something that I look forward to every year. Unfortunately, because of COVID-19 this year, we were unable to invite everyone to this luncheon. But, we didn’t want the year to pass without presenting our top awards.
This year, we are proud to present James Bautista with the Andre Reyna Youth Against Hunger Award. The Award is named after Andre Reyna who was a very special young man. As a student at UCF and frequent volunteer for Second Harvest Food Bank and other local causes, Andre cared very deeply about social justice. And about making sure that people had the basics of life available no matter their financial resources. He had planned a life of public service and helping others. His life was tragically cut short, however, in an auto accident in 2009. Today, his memory and his spirit continue to motivate his family, friends, and many others throughout the community to get involved and make a difference. We give an award each year to honor Andre’s memory, and to recognize other young people who continue to work for others in the spirit that he demonstrated. James Bautista has demonstrated that spirit. This past year he organized a virtual food drive that raised $7,361! You may recall that he shaved his head on live television after his friends exceeded the goal for his fundraiser.
We had the pleasure to present the Going the Extra Mile Award to Volunteer Captain Thanh Quach. Thanh has been volunteering with us for about a year and a half and has logged more than 1,000 volunteer hours. He has helped sort donations, pack meals in production as well as help out at offsite projects like food rescues and kids pack builds. He has also stepped in for our volunteer leads in the warehouse when they are on vacation. He has been so helpful and we appreciate his support of our mission!
Finally, we presented the Dave Pearlman Spirit of Volunteerism Award to Dan Donovan. The Award is named after Dave Pearlman who was the founder and owner of a little furniture company here in Orlando called Kane’s Furniture. There have been few people, if any, more passionate about reducing food waste and feeding people in need than Dave Pearlman. He was a man who got up before dawn to drive his trailer around to the back doors of restaurants each day collecting whatever they had available and delivering it to feeding programs. He served on the Second Harvest Board of Directors for many years, and the food pantry program at Jewish Family Services in Orlando bears his name. Though Dave is no longer with us, he left a legacy of involvement, action, and hope. He proved the impact that one individual can have on a serious problem. We give an award each year to honor Dave’s memory and recognize other people who continue to work for others in the spirit that he demonstrated.
Dan Donovan is the Senior Director of Park Sales and has been at Universal Orlando Resort for 22 years. He is a major advocate for volunteering and motivating his teams to join him in volunteering. He has been a part of Club 52 at Universal for many years (52 hours of volunteering in a year) and is now in his first year as the President of the Volunteer Board for all of Universal Orlando. Dan is a strong supporter of Second Harvest Food Bank, as he inspires and leads alongside Universal Team members in numerous community events and spearheaded Universal food drives, collecting thousands of pounds of food to feed hungry families. He brings a contagious energy and enthusiasm to work every day.
It wouldn’t be an appreciation blog if we did not highlight our volunteer captains. I cannot say enough great things about this group of people who go above and beyond to help us out in the warehouse, in our production areas, at food rescues and pretty much anywhere we ask them to help out. Our volunteer captains are a unique group who have taken on more of a leadership role and helped out our team. They assist with providing instructions to volunteers, operating manual jacks, tracking information in our computer system, among many other duties. We provide them with a yellow volunteer captain t-shirt after they’ve become familiar with various processes and have attended a Food for Thought Tour so that they can be informed and knowledgeable about the organization. They wear these t-shirts proudly!
We’ve added several new captains that have stepped up to the plate in the last few months. This has been extremely helpful given the increased demand to provide food to the community due to COVID-19. Thank you volunteer captains for all that you do. We couldn’t do it without you!
Mindy Ortiz
Director of Volunteer Services
Lend a helping hand in the fight against hunger.
Volunteers are needed to pack meals, sort food donations and help with special projects all year long.
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