North Carolina National American Miss Pre-Teen Queen Kristen Johnson volunteering at Second Harvest Food Bank.

Kristen spent time volunteering at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina in Charlotte, NC. Second Harvest strives through education, advocacy, and partnerships to eliminate hunger by the solicitation and distribution of food.

Kristen spent time volunteering at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina in Charlotte, NC. Second Harvest strives through education, advocacy, and partnerships to eliminate hunger by the solicitation and distribution of food. They provide a regional distribution warehouse and branches that supply food and grocery items to charitable agencies that assist people in need. Second Harvest service area population lives in poverty, including almost 170,000 children and seniors. In order to get this food into the community, Second Harvest relies on community volunteers to help sort and prepare food for distribution.

During her day of service, Kristen helped to organize the different food items and place them in the appropriate distribution bin. She was trained how to identify damaged food items and remove them from distribution. She also helped clean up the warehouse when the work was done. It was a lot of hard work, but very rewarding. The best part of volunteering is about helping people in need with this effort. Kristen loved serving her community and knowing that the day’s activities is essential to feeding families and children. She looks forward to serving again throughout the year.

National American Miss – National Finalist- Michaelah Wheat serving at Second Harvest Food Bank

National American Miss – National Finalist- Michaelah Wheat serving at Second Harvest Food Bank

Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee is an organization that serves 1000’s of people each year by providing food to families in times of need. Second Harvest receives large quantities of food from various sources like grocery stores and food drives in the area. Michaelah helped to get the food ready for the families visiting the food bank. Her particular responsibilities included organizing the different food items, labeling the boxes, and cleaning the warehouse. It is hard work but very rewarding.

The first area where she served was in the food sorting area. This is a big area where food is sorted by categories. After the food is sorted, she placed them in boxes, labeled the boxes, and loaded them onto crates. After the boxes are filled, she helped to arrange them on the shelves so that the workers serving the families can clearly identify the different food items.

The warehouse is huge and some of the food that is donated is damaged or unusable. So, she also spent time cleaning up the area from food products that were either damaged or unusable. Although it is a lot of work, it is a wonderful place to serve and the Nashville community really does great in supporting the efforts of Second Harvest. Michaelah looks forward to serving there again throughout this year.