*Second Harvest will be closed on Monday, May 25 in observance of Memorial Day, including our volunteer opportunities. | | | | |
Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive
The 2026 Letter Carriers’ Annual Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive will take place tomorrow on Saturday, May 9. Letter Carriers pick up donations left on the doorsteps of our neighbors along their postal routes, and bring them back to the post office, making this the largest one-day food drive of the year!

We need help unloading and sorting these donations that evening. This is a fun, fast-paced, and physically-active opportunity! For more information and to sign up, please use the button below.
Even if you can’t join us to volunteer, anyone can participate by leaving nonperishable food and household products at your mailbox tomorrow on May 9. Please help us by reviewing donation guidelines here and double check that your local post office will accept donations here.
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Summer Feeding
The Community Meals Team is gearing up for the Summer Feeding season, and we need volunteers to help us meet our production goals! If you volunteered with us last year, you know just how busy we were, as we added thousands of extra meals to the schedule just for kids out of school for the summer, in addition to our year-round commitments. This year, we are extra-extra busy—in fact, we are expecting to triple our numbers from last year! To make this happen, we are adding 10 additional volunteer slots each morning beginning May 26!

This is typically our slowest season for volunteers, despite the increase in need. That’s why we are asking for your help to spread the word and volunteer with us this Summer. Whether you and your coworkers are looking for a team-building opportunity, you’re looking for meaningful ways to spend time with older kids while they’re on Summer Break, or you just have a few hours to spare, we’d love to have you!
Get signed up for Community Meals on Bloomerang below
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Welcome to Our Table
Unfortunately, we will be cancelling the May 12 volunteer session with Eric Aft, Second Harvest CEO, but for a good cause! Eric will now be joining our Director of Public Policy in Raleigh for a State Advocacy Day, working with our representatives in the General Assembly on meaningful policy changes. Upon his return, Eric will be all in on our budget ahead of the start of the next fiscal year beginning July 1, and on a personal note, traveling for his son’s wedding (awww!).
We do apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your understanding. I know he is looking forward to meeting with volunteers again later this summer. The next meeting will be held on July 12 from 4:00-5:00 p.m.! Please RSVP here:
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| | Eric is an expert in many areas, but our Volunteer Services Team is a better fit for your questions about how to volunteer with us. Please let us know how we can help! volunteers@secondharvestnwnc.org 336-784-5770. | | |
In Case You Missed It: Our Nominees for the 2026 Governor’s Volunteer Service Awards
We have two very special nominees for the 2026 Governor’s Volunteer Service Awards for Forsyth County! We had the honor of proudly celebrating Andy Levenson and all of our Bank of America volunteers on May 6 during the awards ceremony at the Intergenerational Center for Arts and Wellness.
Andy Levenson has been volunteering with our Partnerships & Impact Team to help make our data useable and elevating our work in the process. We can align programs and resources to communities where high food insecurity, poverty, and transportation barriers converge, thanks to Andy’s skilled and thoughtful work. Partnerships & Impact VP, Nikki McCormick, says that this has “fundamentally changed” our ability to understand and respond to need. Way to go, Andy!!
Bank of America has racked up hundreds of volunteer hours in 2025 alone! These volunteers have worked wherever needed in both our Winston-Salem and Greensboro locations, and staff always get excited to see this group of fun, hard workers on the schedule. Their commitment to powering our mission with boots on the ground makes them truly unsung heroes here. We are grateful for all of our friends at Bank of America!
| | (from left) James Caldwell (Senior Director of Agency Services at Second Harvest), Andy Levenson, and Nikki McCormick (Second Harvest Partnerships & Impact VP) | Bank of America Volunteers | | Staff Highlight: Monica Schoenfield | | |
We’d like to congratulate Moncia Schoenfield on her recent promotion to Community Meals Experience Manager! Her work with volunteers is critical to reaching our production and quality goals. Gayla Maready lovingly refers to Monica as “a bit wacky, extremely kind, and always working hard to help further our goal to feed our community”—in other words, she’s having fun and getting it done!
Monica explained that she was going through a rough patch in her personal life when she started working at Second Harvest back in October. Her mother had just passed away and some shifts were hard to get through. During one of her first, she met a regular weekly volunteer, Marla Coleman, who listened with “gentleness and kindness” as she opened up about her late mother while they worked. This simple act meant a great deal to Monica that afternoon and has stuck with her since, and believes a shoutout for Marla is an important part of her own story here!
“How many people can say that they not only enjoy their work but also the people they work with?” Monica asks. For her, both her Community Meals Team and her volunteers make each day rewarding. “It does not matter what has led a volunteer to our door, they are happy to be there and a pleasure to work with.” It’s always a pleasure working with you, too, Monica!

Fun Facts: When she isn’t at work, Monica loves finding her zen at home among her house plants, and tearing up the trails in her Jeep! Danish Creamery butter and Diet Coke must be stocked up in her house at all times.
| | Five Years of Nourishing Our Neighbors in East Greensboro | | |
Five years ago, our community made a visionary investment—not just in food, but in the radical belief that stronger systems build stronger communities. This week, we stood alongside the leaders, volunteers, and partners who carry this mission forward to celebrate five years of impact at Second Harvest’s Greensboro Distribution & Nutrition Education Center.
Since its inception, this center has transformed the landscape of food security across Guilford, Alamance, Caswell, Randolph, and Rockingham Counties. By distributing more than 26.9 million pounds of food and supporting nearly 100 local partner agencies, the facility has become a vital lifeline for our region.
The celebration also looked toward the future with the official ribbon cutting of the Phillips Community Market, a space designed to provide a dignified shopping experience for our neighbors. Additionally, we kicked off our Keep the Lunch Bell Ringing campaign, an essential summer initiative to ensure children don’t go hungry while school is out. To every volunteer who has sorted a crate or shared our vision over the last five years: thank you for being the heart of this milestone.
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Solar Harvest is One Year Old! 🌞
We have some electrifying news to share! Since the launch of Solar Harvest, we’ve been soaking up the sun and turning it into significant savings for our mission. In just one year, we have saved nearly $98,000 on our electric bills—effectively cutting our monthly power expenses almost in half!
The long-term impact is even more powerful. As utility costs continue to rise, we are on track to save a staggering $4.3 million over the next 30 years. These are vital funds that can be redirected exactly where they belong: serving our community.
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While we’re saving green, we’re also "going" green. To date, we have eliminated 1.9 million pounds of CO2 emissions. To put that in perspective, that is the equivalent of taking 201 gas-powered cars off the road for an entire year! 🚗💨

Our "sun-sational" success is even inspiring our neighbors. The team at Goodwill Industries of Northwest NC was so moved by the results of Solar Harvest that they have decided to transition to solar energy as well. We are thrilled to see this bright idea spreading across our community!
| | More Ways to Get Involved | | |
Summer Feeding: Keep the Lunch Bell Ringing!
During the school year, the lunch bell provides something many families count on—consistency. For children who rely on school meals, it’s not just a break in the day—it’s reassurance that food is coming.
When summer arrives, that structure shifts. School doors close. Schedules change. For many families, access to regular, nutritious meals becomes increasingly difficult.
That’s why this summer, we’re asking our community to keep the lunch bell ringing—in impactful ways that ensure children and families have the food they need.
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Planned Giving
Whether you are 18 or 80, it is never too early to plan your charitable legacy. By making a planned gift to Second Harvest Food Bank, you ensure future generations grow up healthy and food-secure.
Your contribution provides immediate access to nutritious food while supporting our long-term mission to solve the root causes of hunger in our community.
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Help Out in the Gardens!
Summer is almost here, and we'll need plenty of hands tending to both the Fitzgerald Teaching Garden and our new Sensory Garden!
Whether you're pruning flowers or harvesting veggies, we'd love your help with keeping our gardens growing.
| | Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC
3330 Shorefair Drive, WS | 336.784.5770 | SecondHarvestNWNC.org |  
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