Learn about the future changes to Today's Harvest Oakdale North. Take a look at the impact you have had on our community (hint: it is a lot!)
It is hard to believe it has been almost two years since we opened our first Today’s Harvest market. When our little market opened on Hadley Avenue, we had no idea just how well received it would be. Today’s Harvest Oakdale North (THON) recently had its biggest day ever, serving 361 households on Tuesday, March 28th. We could not have done it without our wonderful volunteers! Thank you!
We have some exciting news! This spring, THON will move to a new, much bigger home on the East Side. If you have been to THON, you know we have outgrown our current space. We are also continuing to serve more households each week. A larger market and backroom will allow us to serve more families and rescue more food each day. We will have more parking spots, storage space, and even a place for volunteers to take a break! It will be a great start to our third year of Today’s Harvest. We'll share more details next month about the timeline of the move, etc.
Goodbye Carrie
This past week, we said goodbye to our Mobile Food Shelf and Delivery Program Manager, Carrie Cullen. She was with Open Cupboard for almost two years, starting as a Program Assistant and then taking over for our off-site programs. Carrie is still working on feeding our community, though! She is now coordinating food orders with Second Harvest Heartland (our food bank partner). We will miss her and wish her the best with her new endeavor!
Meet Our New Staff
Open Cupboard has hired some new staff. Please welcome Kenny and Roger to the OC team!
Meet Kenny
Kenny is our new Assistant Manager. You can find him helping with the Today's Harvest Oakdale South market Monday to Friday. He is also helping with our Drive-Up program on Thursdays.
Meet Roger
Roger is our new Food Rescue Driver for Today's Harvest Oakdale South. He will pick up food from local grocery stores for us Monday to Friday.
Volunteer Appreciation Week
April 17th to 22nd is Volunteer Appreciation Week. That's right, a week all about you! We will be sending out more information the week before, but you can expect drawings, photo contests, and more!
Once again, we experienced a year of growth in serving our community. And 2023 is showing no signs of things slowing down. We're now regularly serving more than 800 households a day through our two Today's Harvest markets, and our Drive Up services are seeing record levels of service.
None of this work would be possible without our amazing volunteers like you. You've had an incredible impact on your community.
Meet volunteer Anne
If you go looking for Anne at Open Cupboard, the odds are that you will find her in the back room. Since starting in 2020, Anne has moved from bagging produce for our Drive-Up program to now working in the backroom. Her she will spend Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning sorting and bagging dry goods and packing meat for Drive-Up.
There she is joined by her fellow "backroom squad," which she explains is what she loves about volunteering: the "comradery" and wide range of people you get to work with, from social workers to engineers. Some of her favorite volunteer memories are with the people in the back room, like discovering a meat-packing mascot. In one of the food rescue loads was a squeaky pig dog toy Anne, and the Friday Drive-Up meat packers would squeeze when they finished packing a box or a pallet. Sadly, the pig has disappeared since then, but the bonds formed by the volunteers remain steadily in place.
What you might not know about Anne is that she has donated 120 units (15 gallons!) of blood which started when she was working as a nurse and some of her family members fell ill. Outside of Open Cupboard, Anne loves to volunteer at Guardian Angels Church, read, and go for walks. You could also find Anne devouring pasta or "anything with noodles", her favorite dish.
How to Shop Today's Harvest as a Volunteer
Today's Harvest was designed to make it easy to grab a 1-2 days supply of food. The market was created to be accessible to everyone, including volunteers. Volunteers are welcome to shop in our Today's Harvest markets. It is important (and part of our compliance with State and food bank rules) that volunteers who shop follow the same guidelines that all shoppers are expected to follow. These rules were created in response to some food shelves that were providing preferential service to volunteers.
Below are things to follow if you do shop in our Today's Harvest market when you volunteer:
Please shop before or after your shift, and do not set aside items for yourself while volunteering. If you shop before your shift, you are welcome to keep your items in the backroom/breakroom. You can choose to shop during a break in your shift if needed, just let the market manager know you are exchanging your "volunteer" hat for your "shopper" one.
Volunteers should always follow the same guidelines about quantities of items as all other shoppers (follow the numbers you see on the strawberries). Volunteers should also check-out at the end of their shopping.
You can shop for yourself and one other household. Please check out and weigh the food separately.
If the market is busy, you can shop from the back room. Just remember to weigh your food, follow the same quantities listed for shoppers, and check out in the market!
Did you know that Open Cupboard and Today's Harvest are on Instagram?
If you go looking for Anne at Open Cupboard, the odds are that you will find her in the back room. Since starting in 2020, Anne has moved from bagging produce for our Drive-Up program to now working in the backroom. Her she will spend Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning sorting and bagging dry goods and packing meat for Drive-Up. 
There she is joined by her fellow "backroom squad," which she explains is what she loves about volunteering: the "comradery" and wide range of people you get to work with, from social workers to engineers. Some of her favorite volunteer memories are with the people in the back room, like discovering a meat-packing mascot. In one of the food rescue loads was a squeaky pig dog toy Anne, and the Friday Drive-Up meat packers would squeeze when they finished packing a box or a pallet. Sadly, the pig has disappeared since then, but the bonds formed by the volunteers remain steadily in place. 
What you might not know about Anne is that she has donated 120 units (15 gallons!) of blood which started when she was working as a nurse and some of her family members fell ill. Outside of Open Cupboard, Anne loves to volunteer at Guardian Angels Church, read, and go for walks. You could also find Anne devouring pasta or "anything with noodles", her favorite dish.
