Tag Archives: exercise

Believe it or not, volunteering can be a great way to get in some daily physical activity.  My family has been volunteering at our local Food Bank for about 8 months now.  We work on the production line assembling the hampers that are handed out to a huge range of people that are clients of the Food Bank for one reason or another.  When the recession hit, we realized how fortunate we were to have no worries about food or jobs and felt the need to help.

The Food Bank that we work at is extremely busy with donations coming in and hampers going out in a frantic pace.  The food is sorted and boxed in bins before being sent to make the hampers out of.  It’s a physically demanding endeavour to lift those boxes and sort them out according to the Canada Food Guide into each individual hamper.  Bending, lifting, reaching and stretching.  It’s like an aerobic fitness class for free!  No equipment is necessary.  Just show up, grab a box cutter and get to work.

There are lots of other great reasons to volunteer at your local food bank.  At my local one, you can volunteer as a group or family so it becomes another way to spend time chatting and visiting.  My teenage son volunteers there as well so at least I get some “face time” with him away from my toddler.  There are many, many great individuals volunteering there with a range of reasons for volunteering.  It’s gives us a great feeling to see how community minded our city is.  People truly appreciate you taking the time to come and work up a sweat for a few hours.

There’s lots of neat events you can go to and volunteer at.  This picture of Bob the Builder was taken at an engineering and construction lead food drive that raised over 54,000 pounds of food.  The particpants all made various sculptures out of cans of food and the results of this can-struction were truly incredible!

So, what are you waiting for??  Get off that tush, go work off some internet surfing calories and help out those less fortunate today!

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