September 2016 Volunteer of the Month – Congrats Katie D!

We are excited to announce that our September Volunteer of the Month is Katie D!  Katie has been volunteering with Community Harvest for the past 6 years with her mother.  When the two started serving, they would come each week to help pack bags for the SeniorPak program.  Katie soon noticed that many families with children were visiting Community Harvest, and she decided to help those children.  Katie created Hope Books Fort Wayne, a program which distributes books to children at places like Community Harvest, The Boys and Girls Club, The Urban League, and Bright Point among many others.  Because of Katie’s dedication, children who visit Community Cupboard are able to take home a book after they visit.

Since March of 2015, Katie has distributed about 7,500 books through her program and many of those books have been given to children both in Community Cupboard and at our Saturday Helping Hands distribution.  Most of the books that Katie distributes have been donated; if you would like to learn more or contribute books to Hope Books Fort Wayne, visit www.hopebooksfw.blogspot.com.

“This has been such a cool experience.  We started with just a book shelf and we just thought we were going to fill it up every once in a while, but God has really exploded the program into ways I could have never imagined.”  – Katie D.

Full Interview:

Rachel: How long have you been involved with Community Harvest?

Katie: 5 or 6 years.

Rachel: What do you do with Community Harvest?

Katie: We started off doing SeniorPak once a week and I noticed Kids coming in with their families to Community Harvest and I wanted to help them.  One way I thought that I could help is through giving them books, so I pass out free books through a book shelf in Community Cupboard.  On Saturday mornings I also hand out books to people who are coming through the line.

Rachel: Do you have any idea how many books you have given out?

Katie: We have given away about 7,500 since March 2015.

Rachel: Why did you first start volunteering at Community Harvest?

Katie: When we first started, my mom was looking for somewhere to volunteer at, and get involved in the community and we thought Community Harvest was a really cool organization and so we started working with the SeniorPak program.

Rachel: Do you have more locations that you pass out your books?

Katie: We do, we have worked with the Boys and Girls Club of Fort Wayne, a few of the community centers around Fort Wayne, we went to the Urban League, Bright Point, Chapel Oaks, and we come to Community Harvest a lot.

Rachel: How do you get all of the books that you pass out?

Katie: All of the books are donated.  We have bought very of the books.  Half Price Books has been a huge help.  They have given us a ton of books.  And then, especially during the beginning of summer, we went around to garage sales and said, “if you’re going to donate these books anyway we will take them.” That’s how we have gotten a lot of our books.

Rachel: If somebody wanted to donate books to you, how would they go about doing that?

Katie: I have a blog, hopebooksfw.blogspot.com, and there is a link on the right hand side for donations.

Rachel: Anything else you would like to share?

Katie: This has been such a cool experience.  We started with just a book shelf and we just thought we were going to fill up the book shelf every once in a while and God has really exploded the program into ways I could have never imagined.

 

If you would like to volunteer, or learn more about our volunteer opportunities, please contact Rachel Klein at 260-447-3696, Ext. 306 or rklein@communityharvest.org.