Volunteer Opportunities

This page lists all current volunteer opportunities and their descriptions.  The availability of these opportunities is subject to change. 

If you need to complete Court-Appointed community service, you are on the wrong page.  Please visit the Court-Appointed Worker Application. 

Please follow the easy steps below to start volunteering!

Food Sorting

Where: Brazos Valley Food Bank
Shift 1: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM (Tuesday - Friday)
Shift 2: 12:45 PM to 3:45 PM (Tuesday - Friday)

Who: Individuals and Groups

Age requirement: 13 years and older. Volunteers under 18 must have a parent/guardian with them.
Dress Code: Due to safety concerns, all volunteers must wear close-toed shoes (no sandals or flip flops) and clothes appropriate to work in a warehouse environment.
Job Description: The Brazos Valley Food Bank wants to make sure that food distributed to the hungry is safe.  Therefore, most food donations to the Brazos Valley Food Bank need to be sorted before they can be distributed to partner agencies who in turn distribute it to individuals in need.  Sorting involves checking for product quality, as well as sanitizing and categorizing items.  Training provided.  May not be suitable for children under 13.

Requirements:  Ability to read labels, discern quality, and make decisions about categorization. 

Warehouse Assistance

Where: Brazos Valley Food Bank
Shift: 9:00 AM to 11:00 PM (Wednesday's and Friday's)
Who: Individuals and Court Appointed
Age requirement: 18 years and older. Volunteers under 18 must have a parent/guardian with them.
Dress Code: Due to safety concerns, all volunteers must wear close-toed shoes (no sandals or flip flops) and clothes appropriate to work in a warehouse environment.
Job Description: Volunteers who are interested in assisting with the core activities of the Brazos Valley Food Bank should consider volunteering in the warehouse. Volunteers help staff pull food orders from inventoried/racked stock, assist in unloading donations, sorting and organizing cardboard for bailing and wrapping pallets of food ready for delivery or pick up.  Making sure that the warehouse is clean is orderly is also always needed.  Training will be provided to use the pallet jack and pallet wrap.

Requirements:  Must be able to stand for a long time, lift 40 lbs. or more, and take direction.  

Food Donation Pick-Up

Where: Brazos Valley Food Bank
Shift 1: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM (Tuesday - Friday)
Who: Individuals
Age requirement: 17 years and older. Must have valid driver’s license.
Dress Code: Due to safety concerns, all volunteers must wear close-toed shoes (no sandals or flip flops) and clothes appropriate to work in a warehouse environment.
Job Description: H-E-B, Kroger, Sam’s Club, Walmart, Target, and Blue Baker donate food items daily to the Brazos Valley Food Bank.  Volunteers are needed Monday-Friday in the morning to pick up, load, drive these donations using their personal, clean vehicles to the Food Bank and assist unload.

Requirements:  Ability to commit to weekly, scheduled pick-ups of food donations, using a personal vehicle, during the day or throughout the week.  Ability to lift 40 lbs. or more, pack and unpack groceries from a vehicle, etc.  Must have own vehicle for pick-up.

Training: Required to complete a food handlers course (training provided by the BVFB). 

Food Assembly for Children’s Backpacks

Where: Brazos Valley Food Bank
Shift 1: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM (Tuesday - Friday)
Shift 2: 12:45 PM to 3:45 PM (Tuesday - Friday)

Also available on Tuesday evenings and Saturday mornings from September 1st through May 31st. 

Who: Groups, Families, Individuals
Age requirement: Volunteers under 18 must have a parent/guardian with them.
Dress Code: Due to safety concerns, all volunteers must wear close-toed shoes (no sandals or flip flops) and clothes appropriate to work in a warehouse environment.
Job Description: Volunteers assemble over 44,000 food packs for children annually.  Assembly involves filling see-through bags with set amounts of different food items for each bag.  All bags are assembled in standardized way and with the food same content and quantities.  Assemblies are a great project for groups of 10 individuals or more.  Assemblies normally take 1 ½ to 2 hours of volunteer time to complete. This opportunity is great for families!

Requirements:  Ability to hold, fill, lift and tie the bags; each bag is around 5-7 lbs.

Food Assembly for Senior Bags

Where: Brazos Valley Food Bank
Shift 1: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM (Tuesday - Friday)
Shift 2: 12:45 PM to 3:45 PM (Tuesday - Friday)

We also offer some Tuesday nights and Saturdays.
Who: Groups and Families
Age requirement: Volunteers under 18 must have a parent/guardian with them.
Dress Code: Due to safety concerns, all volunteers must wear close-toed shoes (no sandals or flip flops) and clothes appropriate to work in a warehouse environment.
Job Description: Volunteers help assembly over 15,600 bags annually for low-income seniors.  Assembly involves filling clear bags with different food items.  All bags are assembled in a standardized way and with the same food content and quantities. Assemblies normally take 1½ to 2 hours to complete. This opportunity is great for families or groups of 10 or more!

Requirements:  Ability to hold, fill, lift and tie the bags; each bag is around 5-7 lbs.

Food Box Assembly

Where: Brazos Valley Food Bank
Shift 1: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM (Tuesday - Friday)
Shift 2: 12:45 PM to 3:45 PM (Tuesday - Friday)

We also offer some Tuesday nights and Saturdays.
Who: Groups and Families
Age requirement:  Volunteers under 18 must have a parent/guardian with them.
Dress Code: Due to safety concerns, all volunteers must wear close-toed shoes (no sandals or flip flops) and clothes appropriate to work in a warehouse environment.
Job Description: Volunteers pack about 4,200 family food boxes annually.  An assembly line process is used, utilizing a manual conveyor belt that moves the box towards product that volunteers put into the boxes. All food boxes are made the same.

Requirements:  Ability to work on your feet, count, and load single food items into larger boxes, may need to lift up to 40 lbs.

Mobile Food Pantry/Food Expo

Where: Madison County Fairgrounds
Date and Time: Usually the last Thursday of each month, 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM or until food runs out. May be required to arrive early and stay later. Days and times may vary.
Who: Individuals, Groups, and Families
Age requirement: Volunteers under 18 must have a parent/guardian with them.
Requirements:   Must have your own transportation to and from, signed confidentiality agreement, must be able to stand for long periods of time, and lift up to 40 lbs. Wear weather appropriate clothing; shorts, hats, sunscreen during the summer, and warm clothes in winter.
Job Description: Mobile Food Pantries and Food Expos are held in Brazos, Grimes and Madison counties. Volunteers assist with paperwork and distribution of food to clients. The fairgrounds are mostly open, with little shade, and it is windy, sunny, and hot in the summer. We do bring water for the volunteers (especially during the summer when it is hot). When it rains, we set up under a pavilion to keep the cardboard boxes, paperwork, and (most of) the volunteers dry.

Together We Grow - Garden

Where: Brazos Valley Food Bank
Date and Time: 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM (Tuesday & Thursday)
Who: Individuals and Small Groups
Age requirement:Volunteers under 18 must have a parent/guardian with them.
Dress Code: Due to safety concerns, all volunteers must wear close-toed shoes with closed heel (no sandals or flip flops). Recommended attire is boots or athletic sneakers, jeans or long pants, light colored and light material long-sleeved shirt, wide brimmed hat, work gloves and sunscreen, as needed.
Job Description: Volunteers help provide maintenance in the garden of 15 raised beds. Maintenance activities may include weeding, watering, planting, and harvesting and washing produce. The garden is mostly open, with little shade. Please be mindful that it can be windy, sunny and hot in the summer. Shifts may be cancelled upon short notice due to inclement weather. 

Requirements:  Ability to grasp, bend over, withstand being outdoors for an extended amount of time; some tasks may require the ability to lift more than 10 lbs.

Project GotEm Spanish Translator

Where: Remote, work from home.
Shift: Monday through Friday, 8:30AM-4:30PM. Shifts will last approximately 10 minutes.
Who: Individual Volunteers (5-8 volunteers needed)
Age requirement: At least 17 years of age.
Job Description: Project GotEm is a new home food delivery program offered to low-income families that have been impacted by Covid and have limited access to food pantries. Depending on the families' needs, the non-perishable food items are delivered on a weekly, bi-monthy, or monthly basis. Currently, the program is scheduled to be available through March 2022. This opportunity is on an "as needed" basis; volunteers will be participating in conference calls with Spanish speaking clients and assist in translating the dialogue to our staff members. Volunteers would not need to visit our office for this opportunity.

Requirements: Must be Bilingual. Must sign a confidentiality agreement and take a Civil Rights course (training provided by BVFB).