Every action makes a difference.

“I can’t change the world, but I can make it a little better,” says Al DeLio, a volunteer captain at Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

Al has volunteered at Second Harvest since 2016, logging over 3,000 hours of service to help his neighbors.

Volunteers like Al perform a variety of essential tasks to help get food to neighbors facing hunger. One project is sorting food donations from grocery stores, warehouse clubs, distribution centers and food manufacturers. Items are inspected to ensure food safety and packaged into boxes for distribution to a network of 625+ feeding partners and ultimately families facing hunger.

“We’re keeping thousands of pounds of good food out of the dumpster and sending it to people who really need it,” explains Al. “And there’s a lot of people that really need help now.”

Another project Al helps with regularly is preparing meals for kids at Mercy Kitchen, Second Harvest’s production facility located a few miles north of the Orlando distribution center.

“This is where kindness meets reality,” says Al. “You can sit at home and write a check to a charity and it goes in the mail and you feel good for some period of time. But here, you’re actually producing something. You can come here for three hours and feed thousands of kids.“