I dropped a tomato and it rolled away under the table.  I picked up a bag of pears and the pears skittered across the floor as the wet bottom gave away.  I juggled the eggplants as they slipped through my hands.  All of these nervous first steps were right in front of the seasoned verterans who were showing me the ropes the morning before the Thurston County Food Bank opened.  With all of this, I thought the Food Bank might not really want me helping in the produce section if I was going to cause so much vegetable trauma.  But the other volunteers were kind and patient; and I persisted through that embarrassing start.  By the end of the day, I ended up sorting several boxes of fall produce – apples, kale, squash, pears and lettuce.  If anything was found too ripe during final inspection, we set it aside to give to local farmers to feed their livestock. Once the food bank opened, I helped staff the dry goods aisle, helping customers select their allotted items.

During my time volunteering, I had the pleasure of working with other kind volunteers, as well as meeting friendly customers.  One customer personally thanked me for my time volunteering, making my day with his cheer and smile.  As I continue to volunteer at the Food Bank, I am finding that the rewards and joy come back in much greater volumes than the small portion of my time that I contribute. 

Townsend Security encourages and supports volunteering for all employees by providing four hours of paid time per month.  This has inspired me to just schedule a day and time to volunteer, even though I always have plenty of competing tasks to do at work and home.  

The Volunteer Policy is part of a broader commitment by the company to support our local community.  Townsend Security also donates financial resources to our local United Way, and matches employee donations to 501(c)3 organizations.  Many of us here at Townsend Security believe that we have resources we can and should share, and that we can make a difference by acting locally.

We invite you to take a look at all of our community sponsorships that we are a part of.  You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn to see what we are up to next.