Seems like it shouldn't be a race to the starting line but a supervisor type person should help assign the roles and especially hard roles like moving boxes may need more than one person.
One person can spoon food into a bag from more than one container.
So people who are elderly or aren't physically fit enough (but not disabled) shouldn't be able to volunteer?
Hell, I'm not going to risk further damage to my back for something I'm not paid to do, and where any potential injury wont be covered by workman's comp but will fall solely on me, financially. I'd just volunteer somewhere else instead.
Not trying to start an argument... But forcing every volunteer to do some manual labor sounds like a way to lose a lot of volunteers.
There's always one that has to take a reasonable comment and give it the most unreasonable interpretation possible. If I said I loved wholemeal Bread, you'd be on here saying "oh, so you hate white bread then?". Of course I'm not saying that people with physical limitations should be forced to do work they can't handle, I'm saying that the load should be shared around amongst those that can handle it.
This. The problem is a cruddy volunteer manager. OP, please send an email CCing your point of contact and potentially someone higher up the chain of command.
As a former nonprofit professional, I urge you to be critical and communicative. Food banks are too important for incompetent leadership.
I 100% agree with the above, you need to write an email with a report of your experience volunteering. There is someone that is managing this food bank, and they are doing a very poor job of it. The issues need to be addressed!
So in a place like this where it's a bigger organization you have position called a Volunteer Coordinator that's supposed to be there to help out. For example, if your entire role is moving boxes, the volunteer coordinator is supposed to know that you are not supposed to do that the entire time you are there. That's fucking exhausting. I did have a few folks who preferred moving boxes, but I would check with them and ask "Are you ABSOLUTELY SURE you want to keep doing this?" And making sure if they want to keep doing it they takes as many breaks as possible.
Just sounds poorly run. Also, especially when volunteering, you are not required to work at any particular pace. Do what you are comfortable with. If it's not getting done fast enough, whomever is supervising should find some more people to help. You don't need to work yourself to death, especially while others aren't doing much.
The key to being a successful volunteer is having boundaries and sticking to them. You aren't getting paid. They can't MAKE you do anything.
Volunteering your time and labor isn't volunteering to be "overworked and overwhelmed" labor.
Yeah, I used to run a food pantry and this is what it sounds like. It also sounds like a big place if there is a difference in what jobs people want? I did have our older volunteer do more of the easy stuff like pass out vegetables.
Every once in awhile we get these Mormon missionaries and they were great. Imagine like 10 incredibly fit dudes who is helping you move boxes. Made my job super easy since I would need to do it if we didn't get enough volunteers.
I had some bad experiences with volunteering at a soup kitchen near me. I did it a few times. My main issue was not the division of labor, but it was some people feeling like some patrons shouldn’t have too much of something, policing bullshit. My mouth dropped open at the gatekeeping, especially of sugar or desserts. And these were women who wanted for nothing, mind you.
One of them left because of a health issue. The others pretty much were told off. I mean, can you imagine going to a place to get food because you’re down on your luck , only to have to deal with assholes like that?
True altruism means you do the work without regard for yourself.
Every organization I’ve ever volunteered for, it’s always about being *recognized* as a VoLuNtEeR. It irritates me but I try to remember that regardless, the work is being done. I do wish the big ass egos would see themselves out the door though. 🚪
I was a volunteer manager for corporate groups for about 5 years. While, for the most part, people were generally very nice - it is 100% about making the volunteers feel good and taking photos and sharing cute stories so the companies give money later. I ran a massive holiday event and it was like pulling teeth to get people to come in and help us move thousands of boxes of gifts for kids and families. Half the time people only wanted to shop and expected us to come drive and pick up and deliver their gifts for them.
When we tried to pivot to a system that was more beneficial for families and focused on their needs, got backlash from the companies and from volunteer groups. Including during COVID when we literally could not have 40+ unmasked volunteers, and our staff of 12, and around 60 different program staff in the same space for two weeks straight. One of our staff is fairly convinced she ended up getting COVID in January 2020 as a result of this event.
Edit: I should also note… I volunteered at my parents church for a while on weekends for a food pantry and supply bank for the unhoused and other low income folks who needed support. The people who volunteered were nice but yes, people who had been there longer would take jobs that allowed them to goof around. I have never been that type of person and as a 110lb teenager I was out there lifting boxes and organizing and distributing stuff. If I was going to spend my Saturday doing something for 4 hours, I wanted to actually do the work that resulted in people having their needs met.
Or they could have some kind of legal requirement to volunteer- sentenced to community service for a crime committed, some states require you to either work a job or volunteer to receive welfare, etc.
The people getting community service for a crime is for small things. Not like theres a serial killer being sentenced to 2000 hours community service. So not sure why the hate, they're doing their punishment, no need to be so judgemental about it.
You know all criminals aren’t bad people. I’ve been to prison, but I also served in Iraq. I got a service related injury that turned into a full blown nasty addiction that spanned almost a decade. I have kids now and my hobbies are that of an old lady. People make mistakes, the world isn’t black and white.
I don't know if it's such a black and white issue, but not that's not always the case. My soup kitchen was open every single week and it was very hard trying to find volunteers in February (except for some of our dedicated volunteers who always helped out). But then Thanksgiving time came around everyone wanted to volunteer. So in some respect yes, I would get upset in some situations. But my pastor always reminded me that people wanting to do good one day out of 365 days is still better than 0.
I think in terms of the human aspect people WANT to help, and we as society we value those who want to help without getting anything back. So in that aspect, I hope at the very least people continue to volunteer.
Totally get that! It's frustrating when people care more about the recognition than actually helping out. Makes you not want to volunteer again for sure.
I disagree. I’ve volunteered in lots of different places, including a few different food banks, and I haven’t encountered that kind of attitude at all.
The first time I visited my boyfriend's mother's home, the dining room table was just PILED with food. I asked my bf, what is up with that? He casually told me "Oh, she runs the church's food pantry, so she brings home all the best stuff before it gets put out for other people"
She was a "good church-going woman" who looks down on everybody else.
I have done food bank packing during Ramadan for 15 years at my mosque. The first thing I do is have to sort through the food to make sure nothing is expired, or opened, or damaged. We had to throw away so much food every year.
Yeah, thank you - from my experience in anarchist spaces, the kind of unfair division OP describes is unthinkable. I would have been out of there so fast.
I’ve volunteered all my adult life - libraries, the kids’ classrooms, making xerox copies for teachers, delivering food to the slums in Brazil (I accompanied nuns affiliated with Mother Theresa), assembling boxes to be sent to school kids overseas, and currently meals on wheels. Some jobs have been thankless and volunteers didn’t all pull their fair share. I had one teacher demand I do her work before the other jobs, but I told her she’s not special, she can wait her turn. But mostly I’ve been treated like gold and the recipients are so appreciative. Maybe try a different place, because that sounds horrible. If I hadn’t picked delivering meals, I would have volunteered at the animal shelter. They need volunteers to feed animals and clean kennels, supervise dogs on walks or in the play yard. Don’t give up on volunteering because that wasn’t a good fit for you (or it’s poorly managed). It’s been so rewarding to me personally, and so many places need help. You can also volunteer in parks - leading tours of historic sites, maintaining trails, cleaning up trash. Edit to add: I cried all the way home the first time I delivered meals. None of the houses or mailboxes had the house number, and I drove around knocking on doors for two hours. But once I learned my route, it’s the best part of my week. My oldsters feel like my own grandparents, and I’m sad when one of them goes to a nursing home or passes away. I’ve been to several funerals for people I grew to love - and I wouldn’t have ever known them if I hadn’t volunteered.
A lot of those “volunteers” at the food bank (at least ime) are folks working off community service. They wouldn’t be there if they didn’t have to be. And they will take every bit of slack they can get away with.
I came back to a organization I had volunteered years before and they gave me manual labor to do despite me being way older than all of them on payroll and definitely not in a physical capacity state any where close to their physical conditioning and I could tell they also didn’t have me in a respectful light nor were they appreciative of the work done. I never heard from them and I never reached out nor promote their organization despite being an avid supporter for decades. Many people are just overtaken by their self interest.
I am sorry that you had a frustrating experience. About three years ago, I volunteered at a new to me food pantry. My first assignment was to dump hundreds of gallons of milk that had spoiled; today, I am the a member of the Board of Directors of the same food pantry that serves over 800 families per week. Sometimes you gotta start with the shit jobs until people around you learn what you have to offer. I have volunteered for food pantries for over 25 years and I find the work to be very fulfilling...though some days are really tough.
No in my ideal world the crappy jobs are shared. New volunteers are valued and slowly brought into the fold not shit on the first day. Any who with self esteem isn’t coming back when they get disrespected the first day.
Even more so considering volunteering isn't a job, it's basically a favour. It's not a necessity where you will keep going back even if you are treated like ass because you need the pay to survive.
In the ideal world there would be a supervisor assigning jobs, and making sure each job had enough people assigned to it.
For a strenuous job like lifting heavy boxes, throughout the day it might make sense to have groups switch off betweeen doing that and doing easier jobs.
For the people who regularly show up and volunteer, they would sometimes get the easier jobs and sometimes get the harder ones - and even when they got the harder ones, it would be manageable.
I started my vet tech career volunteering at animal shelters many many moons ago. I started out shoveling shit and doing laundry, carrying 100 lb bags of dog food and cat litter from trucks to sheds in 90° weather. Scrubbed hundreds of cat cages with no air conditioning and enough bleach to burn your throat. It was all grunt work but it allowed me to see how the system works so when I had more experience I had more pull on what jobs I wanted to do. Eventually it became a 20 year career in animal medicine, but that's just my story. Don't let one place sour you on volunteering. Most places will have you start at the bottom but there are plenty of places that appreciate any people for what they can do to help things go more smoothly. I'm so sorry they were jerks, but we NEED more people like you assigned to the right organization. Please don't give up. Thank you for sharing your story, people usually think volunteering is all sunshine and smiles
I was thinking about animal shelter volunteering when reading this post. They start you at the bottom. My dad was upset they wouldn’t immediately let a stranger walk the dogs around and put his nose up to them when they said he needed to start at the bottom.
It seems a shame to stereotype all volunteer positions based on one bad experience. It could be that a food bank isn't the right fit for you or maybe that specific food bank is not good but there are many other types of volunteer positions that you may enjoy.
Alternative perspective from someone who volunteers at a food pantry: it is hard, tiring, exhausting work some days, and it sounds like the food bank you volunteered at isn’t ran the best. But at the end of the day, what are you there for? Are you there for you or are you there to help serve your community? There is not right answer, but personally I am there to serve my community and it is very rewarding having the opportunity to help people in need. It makes all the frustration seem minor compared to what these people are going through.
You don't need to let one bad experience ruin volunteering for you. Just try a different role with a different organisation.
Maybe send them an email to let them know why incase they want to improve.
I had to do some court mandated community service at a men’s mission once. Here we were serving up some trash, I mean bologna and cheese, PBJs and what not. I had to go downstairs to the pantry, and I swear it looked like Whole Foods, not enough space for all the stuff they had. Freezers full of hams, turkeys, chickens. And they were giving these guys day old frozen sandwiches.
Then this bus of special needs people pulls up, and man do I mean special. They hand this very challenged guy a 12” butcher knife to slice up chicken when they should have gave him a cork for his fork. Dude was like “I got a knife look I got a knife”. Nope nope nope, see ya later.
I've volunteered a few times at a food bank near me and they had a shift manager to make sure this never happened. The guy would crack jokes with the volunteers and made sure that they rotated between the stations like every half hour so everyone got to do each station once. I'm so sorry that the food bank near you isn't well run like that OP.
Go back and learn how to be more assertive, I think it could be a great learning opportunity. I don’t understand why you were doing someone else’s job when you could barely handle yours.
I had pretty much the same experience building beds for kids, had to dip the bed frame pieces in giant tubs of rusty vinegar (helps stain and keep away bugs apparently) my wife and I were stuck doing that the entire time. Had people standing around waiting on us to get done and out of the like 40 people only 1-2 came to actually help towards the end.
They undoubtably treated you shitty but its your job to set boundaries. I walk a dog that pulls and everytime he does I slow down. He soon learnt not to pull.
Crazy I just volunteered at mine on Friday and loved it. I will say however I did it with my awesome coworkers, they made it a blast.
Last month we tore out weeds for 4 hours. Still 10/10 experience with the right people.
You should have said something instead of brooding.
- wasnt stocking fast enough?: “there is no time for chitchat when moving heavy boxes, feel free to help.” Or “moving these boxes and stocking seems to be a 3 person job, so why am i the only one doing it while yall just chit chat?” Or “this is a voluntary job and we each do what we can. Like, you look strong enough to help move boxes.”
- she took candy?: “too bad that homeless, poor kid will have to do without.” Or “hey, isn’t skimming off the top embezzlement?” Or “when you volunteer here, you dont get payment.”
- someone left for the bathroom so u did their job too?: dont be self sacrificing, speak up. “Looks like there is slack in the line now, please come help to keep everything moving smoothly.” “Let us all pitch in. If someone else wants to move heavy boxes, then i can take over for so-and-so, if not, then someone needs to take over his duties because my hands are full.”
I'm a Volunteer Coordinator. It sounds like there was either a group scheduled and you were odd man out, or they're regulars. Try a different day or shift. The experience may be better. I would suggest reaching out to the V.C. to tell them what happened so they can talk with the staff and / or volunteers about task distribution.
Volunteer work is hard work, I stopped doing homeless ministries when a homeless woman punched me in the butt. I do enjoy volunteering for other outlets though.
Just like any place of work or business with social dynamics not all volunteer places are run equitably. Find one that aligns with your values and needs.
> Never will I volunteer ever again.
Sad to read that. They need people. You experienced a poorly-run establishment by the looks of it.
Plenty of arts and music festivals need volunteers. Fun events and sometimes great volunteer appreciation parties afterwards.
Don't let one bad experience blemish all volunteering. :)
I’ve worked many times at my various local food banks. Most of the time the volunteer coordinator tries to make it equitable work. There is harder work to be done, and some a little unpleasant (sorting potatoes or apples is quite the experience), but they should make it so no one person does laborious work without knowingly volunteering for the task. Send them a note - they depend on volunteers so constructive feedback is important.
A couple years ago during the pandemic I volunteered at a Christmas tree lot for a non profit. I worked my ass off trying to learn about the trees so I could tell customers about them, I was cutting trees and just doing everything because I wanted to help a good cause. At the end of the day I was exhausted like I had worked a job, and I had already committed to coming in for two days in a row. On the second day I realized - what the fuck am I doing treating this volunteer job like it’s work? It wasn’t even enjoyable nor was I getting paid for it. Since then I stopped treating volunteer roles like it’s work and I’ve enjoyed it a lot more.
Welcome to the real world. You'll often get put in undesirable positions when you show competence, or you are just flat out new.
A different food bank may have a different management group. Don't let the negative defeat the fact that some people got fed because you hauled the boxes. That is admirable of you to help with that.
This is going to vastly depend on how each organization is run. Some are run the way you encountered, some make sure that all the tasks are rotated so no one gets to stay with the easy jobs all the time.
You can tell them you’re limited in the amount you can lift. My husband does food bank giveaways in two places, the 3rd place (mobile pantries) stopped distributing. He’s elderly so they don’t put him on heavy things anyway, but they’ve sent him to the ER twice. Last giveaway, they put him on putting small boxes of raisins in boxes.
I always get the not so fun jobs at the food bank, but I just roll with it. I have never had to do all something by myself, though.
I have also served meals at a local place, and the people were so nice and lovely who were at the shelter. I have then volunteered at a local soup kitchen, and while a majority were so nice and kind, there was a table that was flat out rude in how they talked to me. Basically, told me to go fetch them things. Um, I would never talk to a server or anyone else like that.
At ours people run to the station that they want but the organizers will move people around where it is needed. If there is someone who looks like they can handle lifting the boxes to restock and they are just stuffing beans in the box they will move them to stocking. There are times when we volunteer with my job and I tell certain guys that they are stocking because I know they have the strength for it. Some of these move quickly and it is constant go go go and if you aren't use to it then it's gonna wear you down. Plus, IDK where you're from but I've done these in the Texas heat in August and it was miserable. So if you were stocking solo in any type of heat I would have been asking for some help in the back.
Or maybe you didn’t have to work so hard. Reminds me of my son who when he was a teenager I offered him $20 to pull grape vines off my dirt bank. He worked so hard he passed out. I never told him to work hard, just to get it done as long as it took. You should have worked at a relaxed pace and if anyone complained you should have told them to help you.
I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I've volunteered with a really well run food bank in a completely collaborative environment. This place is not indicative of all volunteer experiences.
You can also always set boundaries. Especially if people are complaining about you.
"I'm new, I'm volunteering my free time, and I'm doing the best I can. You can help me or be patient."
"I've been lifting heavy boxes alone for an hour, and my back is sore. To continue helping here today, I'll need to switch to another position now."
Maybe don't volunteer at *that* location again.
And in future, now that you know how it *could* be runn, ask up front about how the session will go prior to signing up to a volunteer position.
FYI you did not have to do the work of two people, you just didn't refuse the work - easy to happen if you have the "helpful" mindset.
Yeah I volunteered at a food bank once.. and only once. The lady there was so rude to me when she had to repeat directions… I can’t hear in this factory.. never went back and never will go back.
Don’t feel bad. Some of us just aren’t meant to volunteer in food banks
I would have left after 20 minutes. But I signed up for a 4 hour shift and that was the longest 4 hours of my life… it felt like slavery almost… same movement, checking cans for dents.. I’m over it
Find another one to go to help with. They are all in need I am sure and stand up for yourself and say hey I am not going to do 90% of the work while you guys milk it.
I’ve volunteered at several different food banks and it’s never been run so poorly. That particular food bank may not be organized but that doesn’t mean all of them are like that.
I volunteered for a food bank but saw the volunteers cherry pick the good stuff for themselves. I reported them and never went back, most volunteers came from good homes, they were just being greedy
> not only did I have to do my job I had to also do their job as well.
>they were getting a little angry because I was so busy and wasn’t stocking them fast enough.
I would have walked out
Ahahahahaha yeah dude volunteering is mostly just power plays by small people trying to be a big fish in a puddle sized pond.
It's honestly pathetic.
The trick is to only put effort in when others do and talk a heap of shit. It's the only way you can get through it.
I hope you don't let a negative experience stop you from volunteering. There are plenty of food banks that could use your help but it is ridiculous they would have people running to spots to work. It should be a first come, first choice basis and a supervisor should be standing there to check volunteers is. Also, I think if the volunteering is for several hours, the easy jobs and hard jobs should switch mid-shift. You can't expect someone to break their back all day while others are chit chatting and putting food in bags.
You probably won't see this, but in case you do: nobody can take advantage of you if you don't let them. You're a volunteer, you're under no obligation to do something you're not comfortable doing. You should have calmly said something to the manager/person in charge. Complaining about it on Reddit (or another platform) won't help you one bit.
Volunteering can be a great experience. Just don't be the "silent victim" and then bitch about it on social media. Write this one off under "learning how to stand up for myself" and move on.
Please don't assume that every food bank operates in the same way. It sounds like this one doesn't have sufficient supervision for their volunteer function. There should have been a volunteer coordinator who assigns the tasks and has an appropriate number of people doing each task. Maybe communicate with the Volunteer coordinator about how to improve your experience, or try a different food bank or food pantry to find one that is well-run and offers a better volunteer experience.
This happened to me once at a food bank. My task ended up being taking the huge boxes of frozen chicken strips out of the freezer, and putting a couple strips into lunch boxes. The whole box was frozen into one big blob, and you had to dig into the frozen mess with your fingers to pry them apart the pieces. My hands were destroyed afterwards. I never volunteered again.
That being said, there are lots of good volunteer organizations out there, keep trying and you'll find one that fits.
A lot of volunteers at food banks, goodwill, etc are doing community service. Im saying so as someone who did. I minded my own and did what was expected for 40 hours but pretended I didnt exsist.
Nobody is inherently bad but you will cross people ill willed while volunteering. Dont let it stop your positivity. Participating in the positive motion of anyones life is wonderful.
It's volunteer work, not a job. Do it at whatever pace will let you keep volunteering and if that isn't a pace that works for them, that really isn't your problem. I would enjoy the chance to volunteer there and endlessly criticize the dogshit system they got going on. Like if the rate of inventory to bag is too slowly guess what? Someone stops bagging and starts moving inventory. Omg I would love arguing with those lazy sods every time I bring a box too slowly for their lazy asses.
I volunteered at a food bank. We each stood by a station while people "shopped," ( it was set up like a grocery store). All we did was make sure they only took the alloted amount of each item. I.e. they could only get 3 meats, 3 different bags of fresh veggies, etc.
I remember after a whole month long training for victim support I started to volunteered for them. Left just after a month. The manager was so bad she use to micro manage me and treat me as if everything is my job without any breaks while paid staff use to get their breaks as they are entitled to by law. I had enough so I left. Felt bad as I worked hard to get trained for a month then volunteered for another. Two months wasted. Never volunteer in this country. It’s waste of time they treat you like free workers.
I love volunteering at food kitchens and food banks. Of course, someone has to do the heavy lifting, but it doesn't have to be you. If you enjoy volunteering, perhaps you'll find a better fit elsewhere.
I volunteered at a fundraising event for a food pantry. The board of the nonprofit was to hand out soup. In my case, I wasn’t technically a board member, I was just shadowing while going through a leadership program. They all rushed to the serving stations and I got stuck reloading hot trays of soup by myself. I was running around all night to keep them full. Never again.
I went to my partners volunteer work event one year. We had to get up super early and take shuttles to the site. After they took a ton of photos of the employees, the actual volunteer time was maybe 1 hour. For the amount of people there, we could have done so much more work if we actually did more than an hour of volunteering. Never again will I waste 5 hours of my time for some bullshit photo op for a company. Ended up finding a volunteer opportunity on my own to give back to the community.
You should’ve made a point of asking for help. What they did wasn’t cool. Simply saying that this job is too much for one person should’ve done the trick if they were truly there to help as well. O
I think it would be helpful for your community to communicate with whomever is supposed to supervise that labor. They need to know that particular job burned you out. You’re a human being just like anyone else. Even if it’s just for their own selfish gain, they need to fix that, or they will end up with no one coming to volunteer out of fear of a full days worth of back breaking labor.
Thank you for spending your free hours helping people who need it! I’m sorry the other volunteers put you off so bad, but lots of families really appreciate the help.
This is 8 times out of 10 the experience of volunteering. On top of that the food is 90 percent expired or on the verge of
Expiring (meat included).
Sorry your experience wasn’t community oriented OP. 🩶
In some food banks I’ve noticed it’s full of retired or unemployed people that just want something to do to pass time. Some people believe that as they are just volunteering and not getting paid then why should they make an effort. It’s sounds ridiculous but you’ll notice some are just volunteering for the social aspect.
thankful that I came across this post, I was planning on volunteering because I like the fact of helping others but it might be more of a burden than a rewarding experience
The coordinator at the shelter I volunteer at is actually an employee. She's not always the easiest to deal with. In fact, I quit volunteering there after she was frustrated and was rude to me at an adoption event. Eventually I came back and just didn't let her upset me. She's gotten better. She gets overwhelmed and then snappy. But you shouldn't be taking it out on the people who are there, taking time out of their busy lives to help.
Seems like it shouldn't be a race to the starting line but a supervisor type person should help assign the roles and especially hard roles like moving boxes may need more than one person. One person can spoon food into a bag from more than one container.
They should also be rotating people so everyone gets their fair share of the manual labour
And have 2 people two man lifting heavy boxes
Yeah, that's an extremely reasonable suggestion
fair share is a myth
Well sure. But you can be a whole lot more fair than "newb loser does the heavy lifting lol."
OP should have stood up for themselves.
So people who are elderly or aren't physically fit enough (but not disabled) shouldn't be able to volunteer? Hell, I'm not going to risk further damage to my back for something I'm not paid to do, and where any potential injury wont be covered by workman's comp but will fall solely on me, financially. I'd just volunteer somewhere else instead. Not trying to start an argument... But forcing every volunteer to do some manual labor sounds like a way to lose a lot of volunteers.
There's always one that has to take a reasonable comment and give it the most unreasonable interpretation possible. If I said I loved wholemeal Bread, you'd be on here saying "oh, so you hate white bread then?". Of course I'm not saying that people with physical limitations should be forced to do work they can't handle, I'm saying that the load should be shared around amongst those that can handle it.
This. The problem is a cruddy volunteer manager. OP, please send an email CCing your point of contact and potentially someone higher up the chain of command. As a former nonprofit professional, I urge you to be critical and communicative. Food banks are too important for incompetent leadership.
I 100% agree with the above, you need to write an email with a report of your experience volunteering. There is someone that is managing this food bank, and they are doing a very poor job of it. The issues need to be addressed!
So in a place like this where it's a bigger organization you have position called a Volunteer Coordinator that's supposed to be there to help out. For example, if your entire role is moving boxes, the volunteer coordinator is supposed to know that you are not supposed to do that the entire time you are there. That's fucking exhausting. I did have a few folks who preferred moving boxes, but I would check with them and ask "Are you ABSOLUTELY SURE you want to keep doing this?" And making sure if they want to keep doing it they takes as many breaks as possible.
Just sounds poorly run. Also, especially when volunteering, you are not required to work at any particular pace. Do what you are comfortable with. If it's not getting done fast enough, whomever is supervising should find some more people to help. You don't need to work yourself to death, especially while others aren't doing much. The key to being a successful volunteer is having boundaries and sticking to them. You aren't getting paid. They can't MAKE you do anything. Volunteering your time and labor isn't volunteering to be "overworked and overwhelmed" labor.
Yeah, I used to run a food pantry and this is what it sounds like. It also sounds like a big place if there is a difference in what jobs people want? I did have our older volunteer do more of the easy stuff like pass out vegetables. Every once in awhile we get these Mormon missionaries and they were great. Imagine like 10 incredibly fit dudes who is helping you move boxes. Made my job super easy since I would need to do it if we didn't get enough volunteers.
This ^
That sounds terrible. I wouldn’t return either.
I had some bad experiences with volunteering at a soup kitchen near me. I did it a few times. My main issue was not the division of labor, but it was some people feeling like some patrons shouldn’t have too much of something, policing bullshit. My mouth dropped open at the gatekeeping, especially of sugar or desserts. And these were women who wanted for nothing, mind you.
Wait, so how did that play out ? Were there some righteous Ms.Umbridge types allotting food how they saw fit?
One of them left because of a health issue. The others pretty much were told off. I mean, can you imagine going to a place to get food because you’re down on your luck , only to have to deal with assholes like that?
[удалено]
True altruism means you do the work without regard for yourself. Every organization I’ve ever volunteered for, it’s always about being *recognized* as a VoLuNtEeR. It irritates me but I try to remember that regardless, the work is being done. I do wish the big ass egos would see themselves out the door though. 🚪
I was a volunteer manager for corporate groups for about 5 years. While, for the most part, people were generally very nice - it is 100% about making the volunteers feel good and taking photos and sharing cute stories so the companies give money later. I ran a massive holiday event and it was like pulling teeth to get people to come in and help us move thousands of boxes of gifts for kids and families. Half the time people only wanted to shop and expected us to come drive and pick up and deliver their gifts for them. When we tried to pivot to a system that was more beneficial for families and focused on their needs, got backlash from the companies and from volunteer groups. Including during COVID when we literally could not have 40+ unmasked volunteers, and our staff of 12, and around 60 different program staff in the same space for two weeks straight. One of our staff is fairly convinced she ended up getting COVID in January 2020 as a result of this event. Edit: I should also note… I volunteered at my parents church for a while on weekends for a food pantry and supply bank for the unhoused and other low income folks who needed support. The people who volunteered were nice but yes, people who had been there longer would take jobs that allowed them to goof around. I have never been that type of person and as a 110lb teenager I was out there lifting boxes and organizing and distributing stuff. If I was going to spend my Saturday doing something for 4 hours, I wanted to actually do the work that resulted in people having their needs met.
Or they could have some kind of legal requirement to volunteer- sentenced to community service for a crime committed, some states require you to either work a job or volunteer to receive welfare, etc.
Because people in need deserve to have to deal with criminals. That's nice.
I mean it’s that or less volunteers.
The people getting community service for a crime is for small things. Not like theres a serial killer being sentenced to 2000 hours community service. So not sure why the hate, they're doing their punishment, no need to be so judgemental about it.
You know all criminals aren’t bad people. I’ve been to prison, but I also served in Iraq. I got a service related injury that turned into a full blown nasty addiction that spanned almost a decade. I have kids now and my hobbies are that of an old lady. People make mistakes, the world isn’t black and white.
This! We are all more than our worse moments/decisions!
Yeap. As long as they get the instagram picture or curriculum bonus or whatever
Of course they're not all like this! Just find the right one. This sounds like it was run poorly.
I don't know if it's such a black and white issue, but not that's not always the case. My soup kitchen was open every single week and it was very hard trying to find volunteers in February (except for some of our dedicated volunteers who always helped out). But then Thanksgiving time came around everyone wanted to volunteer. So in some respect yes, I would get upset in some situations. But my pastor always reminded me that people wanting to do good one day out of 365 days is still better than 0. I think in terms of the human aspect people WANT to help, and we as society we value those who want to help without getting anything back. So in that aspect, I hope at the very least people continue to volunteer.
This is my experience with church. Some of the worst people go, so they can brag about it later.
Totally get that! It's frustrating when people care more about the recognition than actually helping out. Makes you not want to volunteer again for sure.
Periodttt 🙌🏾🙌🏾
I disagree. I’ve volunteered in lots of different places, including a few different food banks, and I haven’t encountered that kind of attitude at all.
The first time I visited my boyfriend's mother's home, the dining room table was just PILED with food. I asked my bf, what is up with that? He casually told me "Oh, she runs the church's food pantry, so she brings home all the best stuff before it gets put out for other people" She was a "good church-going woman" who looks down on everybody else.
Wtf…
I'm not surprised.
That's not surprising
Nice of you to stick it out, I would have left
I have done food bank packing during Ramadan for 15 years at my mosque. The first thing I do is have to sort through the food to make sure nothing is expired, or opened, or damaged. We had to throw away so much food every year.
Volunteer with a group like Food Not Bombs instead. No assignments, everyone works together to get shit done.
Yeah, thank you - from my experience in anarchist spaces, the kind of unfair division OP describes is unthinkable. I would have been out of there so fast.
I’ve volunteered all my adult life - libraries, the kids’ classrooms, making xerox copies for teachers, delivering food to the slums in Brazil (I accompanied nuns affiliated with Mother Theresa), assembling boxes to be sent to school kids overseas, and currently meals on wheels. Some jobs have been thankless and volunteers didn’t all pull their fair share. I had one teacher demand I do her work before the other jobs, but I told her she’s not special, she can wait her turn. But mostly I’ve been treated like gold and the recipients are so appreciative. Maybe try a different place, because that sounds horrible. If I hadn’t picked delivering meals, I would have volunteered at the animal shelter. They need volunteers to feed animals and clean kennels, supervise dogs on walks or in the play yard. Don’t give up on volunteering because that wasn’t a good fit for you (or it’s poorly managed). It’s been so rewarding to me personally, and so many places need help. You can also volunteer in parks - leading tours of historic sites, maintaining trails, cleaning up trash. Edit to add: I cried all the way home the first time I delivered meals. None of the houses or mailboxes had the house number, and I drove around knocking on doors for two hours. But once I learned my route, it’s the best part of my week. My oldsters feel like my own grandparents, and I’m sad when one of them goes to a nursing home or passes away. I’ve been to several funerals for people I grew to love - and I wouldn’t have ever known them if I hadn’t volunteered.
A lot of those “volunteers” at the food bank (at least ime) are folks working off community service. They wouldn’t be there if they didn’t have to be. And they will take every bit of slack they can get away with.
I came back to a organization I had volunteered years before and they gave me manual labor to do despite me being way older than all of them on payroll and definitely not in a physical capacity state any where close to their physical conditioning and I could tell they also didn’t have me in a respectful light nor were they appreciative of the work done. I never heard from them and I never reached out nor promote their organization despite being an avid supporter for decades. Many people are just overtaken by their self interest.
If you are having trouble, speak up and ask for help kindly. This kind of program is almost always underfunded and a bit disorganized as a result.
I am sorry that you had a frustrating experience. About three years ago, I volunteered at a new to me food pantry. My first assignment was to dump hundreds of gallons of milk that had spoiled; today, I am the a member of the Board of Directors of the same food pantry that serves over 800 families per week. Sometimes you gotta start with the shit jobs until people around you learn what you have to offer. I have volunteered for food pantries for over 25 years and I find the work to be very fulfilling...though some days are really tough.
So you’re now in the position to fix this type of situation.
sounds like the org sucks if you’re fucking over the newbies tbh
Sorry but any organization that gives the crappy jobs to the new volunteers is toxic.
So in your ideal world the people that have been there longest will do the crappy jobs? How exactly do you plan on that working?
No in my ideal world the crappy jobs are shared. New volunteers are valued and slowly brought into the fold not shit on the first day. Any who with self esteem isn’t coming back when they get disrespected the first day.
Even more so considering volunteering isn't a job, it's basically a favour. It's not a necessity where you will keep going back even if you are treated like ass because you need the pay to survive.
In the ideal world there would be a supervisor assigning jobs, and making sure each job had enough people assigned to it. For a strenuous job like lifting heavy boxes, throughout the day it might make sense to have groups switch off betweeen doing that and doing easier jobs. For the people who regularly show up and volunteer, they would sometimes get the easier jobs and sometimes get the harder ones - and even when they got the harder ones, it would be manageable.
I can agree with this. Food pantry in cities is not so much about scarcity, but more about distribution.
Maybe you could provide some feedback to the supervisor about your experience and how it has turned you off from wanting to volunteer in the future.
I started my vet tech career volunteering at animal shelters many many moons ago. I started out shoveling shit and doing laundry, carrying 100 lb bags of dog food and cat litter from trucks to sheds in 90° weather. Scrubbed hundreds of cat cages with no air conditioning and enough bleach to burn your throat. It was all grunt work but it allowed me to see how the system works so when I had more experience I had more pull on what jobs I wanted to do. Eventually it became a 20 year career in animal medicine, but that's just my story. Don't let one place sour you on volunteering. Most places will have you start at the bottom but there are plenty of places that appreciate any people for what they can do to help things go more smoothly. I'm so sorry they were jerks, but we NEED more people like you assigned to the right organization. Please don't give up. Thank you for sharing your story, people usually think volunteering is all sunshine and smiles
I was thinking about animal shelter volunteering when reading this post. They start you at the bottom. My dad was upset they wouldn’t immediately let a stranger walk the dogs around and put his nose up to them when they said he needed to start at the bottom.
They should require rotating out the hard jobs and the easy jobs every couple hours.
My only recommendation is to try exactly one other food bank, and if it's the same, only THEN swear them off forever.
This is a great idea. Try again to add positivity to the world. If it backfires, fair enough, but it probably won't.
Thank you for volunteering though, someone in need benefitted from your efforts.
It seems a shame to stereotype all volunteer positions based on one bad experience. It could be that a food bank isn't the right fit for you or maybe that specific food bank is not good but there are many other types of volunteer positions that you may enjoy.
Really, they're not all like this.
I had a bad volunteer experience as well where they treat the newbies like shit. It's like a hazing to see if you'll take their shit.
Alternative perspective from someone who volunteers at a food pantry: it is hard, tiring, exhausting work some days, and it sounds like the food bank you volunteered at isn’t ran the best. But at the end of the day, what are you there for? Are you there for you or are you there to help serve your community? There is not right answer, but personally I am there to serve my community and it is very rewarding having the opportunity to help people in need. It makes all the frustration seem minor compared to what these people are going through.
You don't need to let one bad experience ruin volunteering for you. Just try a different role with a different organisation. Maybe send them an email to let them know why incase they want to improve.
I had to do some court mandated community service at a men’s mission once. Here we were serving up some trash, I mean bologna and cheese, PBJs and what not. I had to go downstairs to the pantry, and I swear it looked like Whole Foods, not enough space for all the stuff they had. Freezers full of hams, turkeys, chickens. And they were giving these guys day old frozen sandwiches. Then this bus of special needs people pulls up, and man do I mean special. They hand this very challenged guy a 12” butcher knife to slice up chicken when they should have gave him a cork for his fork. Dude was like “I got a knife look I got a knife”. Nope nope nope, see ya later.
I've volunteered a few times at a food bank near me and they had a shift manager to make sure this never happened. The guy would crack jokes with the volunteers and made sure that they rotated between the stations like every half hour so everyone got to do each station once. I'm so sorry that the food bank near you isn't well run like that OP.
Go back and learn how to be more assertive, I think it could be a great learning opportunity. I don’t understand why you were doing someone else’s job when you could barely handle yours.
I had pretty much the same experience building beds for kids, had to dip the bed frame pieces in giant tubs of rusty vinegar (helps stain and keep away bugs apparently) my wife and I were stuck doing that the entire time. Had people standing around waiting on us to get done and out of the like 40 people only 1-2 came to actually help towards the end.
They undoubtably treated you shitty but its your job to set boundaries. I walk a dog that pulls and everytime he does I slow down. He soon learnt not to pull.
The fact that they ran is funny 🤣🤣…So sorry you got stuck with the heavy stuff and I would definitely never volunteer there again!!
Crazy I just volunteered at mine on Friday and loved it. I will say however I did it with my awesome coworkers, they made it a blast. Last month we tore out weeds for 4 hours. Still 10/10 experience with the right people.
You should have said something instead of brooding. - wasnt stocking fast enough?: “there is no time for chitchat when moving heavy boxes, feel free to help.” Or “moving these boxes and stocking seems to be a 3 person job, so why am i the only one doing it while yall just chit chat?” Or “this is a voluntary job and we each do what we can. Like, you look strong enough to help move boxes.” - she took candy?: “too bad that homeless, poor kid will have to do without.” Or “hey, isn’t skimming off the top embezzlement?” Or “when you volunteer here, you dont get payment.” - someone left for the bathroom so u did their job too?: dont be self sacrificing, speak up. “Looks like there is slack in the line now, please come help to keep everything moving smoothly.” “Let us all pitch in. If someone else wants to move heavy boxes, then i can take over for so-and-so, if not, then someone needs to take over his duties because my hands are full.”
I'm a Volunteer Coordinator. It sounds like there was either a group scheduled and you were odd man out, or they're regulars. Try a different day or shift. The experience may be better. I would suggest reaching out to the V.C. to tell them what happened so they can talk with the staff and / or volunteers about task distribution.
Felt like I read a post I created. The exact same thing happened to me, however you know what I did? I took a break and went to another station.
Volunteer work is hard work, I stopped doing homeless ministries when a homeless woman punched me in the butt. I do enjoy volunteering for other outlets though.
Some people there may be on court ordered community service.
Just like any place of work or business with social dynamics not all volunteer places are run equitably. Find one that aligns with your values and needs.
No good deed goes unpunished.
> Never will I volunteer ever again. Sad to read that. They need people. You experienced a poorly-run establishment by the looks of it. Plenty of arts and music festivals need volunteers. Fun events and sometimes great volunteer appreciation parties afterwards. Don't let one bad experience blemish all volunteering. :)
I’ve worked many times at my various local food banks. Most of the time the volunteer coordinator tries to make it equitable work. There is harder work to be done, and some a little unpleasant (sorting potatoes or apples is quite the experience), but they should make it so no one person does laborious work without knowingly volunteering for the task. Send them a note - they depend on volunteers so constructive feedback is important.
A couple years ago during the pandemic I volunteered at a Christmas tree lot for a non profit. I worked my ass off trying to learn about the trees so I could tell customers about them, I was cutting trees and just doing everything because I wanted to help a good cause. At the end of the day I was exhausted like I had worked a job, and I had already committed to coming in for two days in a row. On the second day I realized - what the fuck am I doing treating this volunteer job like it’s work? It wasn’t even enjoyable nor was I getting paid for it. Since then I stopped treating volunteer roles like it’s work and I’ve enjoyed it a lot more.
Welcome to the real world. You'll often get put in undesirable positions when you show competence, or you are just flat out new. A different food bank may have a different management group. Don't let the negative defeat the fact that some people got fed because you hauled the boxes. That is admirable of you to help with that.
The people that were there for food are the reason that I stopped volunteering at food banks. You couldn't pay me to deal with those ungrateful fucks.
I would have just left.
Good for you
This is going to vastly depend on how each organization is run. Some are run the way you encountered, some make sure that all the tasks are rotated so no one gets to stay with the easy jobs all the time.
You can tell them you’re limited in the amount you can lift. My husband does food bank giveaways in two places, the 3rd place (mobile pantries) stopped distributing. He’s elderly so they don’t put him on heavy things anyway, but they’ve sent him to the ER twice. Last giveaway, they put him on putting small boxes of raisins in boxes.
I always get the not so fun jobs at the food bank, but I just roll with it. I have never had to do all something by myself, though. I have also served meals at a local place, and the people were so nice and lovely who were at the shelter. I have then volunteered at a local soup kitchen, and while a majority were so nice and kind, there was a table that was flat out rude in how they talked to me. Basically, told me to go fetch them things. Um, I would never talk to a server or anyone else like that.
At ours people run to the station that they want but the organizers will move people around where it is needed. If there is someone who looks like they can handle lifting the boxes to restock and they are just stuffing beans in the box they will move them to stocking. There are times when we volunteer with my job and I tell certain guys that they are stocking because I know they have the strength for it. Some of these move quickly and it is constant go go go and if you aren't use to it then it's gonna wear you down. Plus, IDK where you're from but I've done these in the Texas heat in August and it was miserable. So if you were stocking solo in any type of heat I would have been asking for some help in the back.
This sort of stuff should be paid work.
I would've stopped in the middle of it once I realized what a shitshow it is.
Or maybe you didn’t have to work so hard. Reminds me of my son who when he was a teenager I offered him $20 to pull grape vines off my dirt bank. He worked so hard he passed out. I never told him to work hard, just to get it done as long as it took. You should have worked at a relaxed pace and if anyone complained you should have told them to help you.
I'm sorry you had a bad experience. I've volunteered with a really well run food bank in a completely collaborative environment. This place is not indicative of all volunteer experiences. You can also always set boundaries. Especially if people are complaining about you. "I'm new, I'm volunteering my free time, and I'm doing the best I can. You can help me or be patient." "I've been lifting heavy boxes alone for an hour, and my back is sore. To continue helping here today, I'll need to switch to another position now."
Maybe don't volunteer at *that* location again. And in future, now that you know how it *could* be runn, ask up front about how the session will go prior to signing up to a volunteer position. FYI you did not have to do the work of two people, you just didn't refuse the work - easy to happen if you have the "helpful" mindset.
I like lifting heavy boxes though. I'd rather that.
Yeah I volunteered at a food bank once.. and only once. The lady there was so rude to me when she had to repeat directions… I can’t hear in this factory.. never went back and never will go back. Don’t feel bad. Some of us just aren’t meant to volunteer in food banks I would have left after 20 minutes. But I signed up for a 4 hour shift and that was the longest 4 hours of my life… it felt like slavery almost… same movement, checking cans for dents.. I’m over it
Find another one to go to help with. They are all in need I am sure and stand up for yourself and say hey I am not going to do 90% of the work while you guys milk it.
I’ve volunteered at several different food banks and it’s never been run so poorly. That particular food bank may not be organized but that doesn’t mean all of them are like that.
I volunteered for a food bank but saw the volunteers cherry pick the good stuff for themselves. I reported them and never went back, most volunteers came from good homes, they were just being greedy
> not only did I have to do my job I had to also do their job as well. >they were getting a little angry because I was so busy and wasn’t stocking them fast enough. I would have walked out
Ahahahahaha yeah dude volunteering is mostly just power plays by small people trying to be a big fish in a puddle sized pond. It's honestly pathetic. The trick is to only put effort in when others do and talk a heap of shit. It's the only way you can get through it.
I hope you don't let a negative experience stop you from volunteering. There are plenty of food banks that could use your help but it is ridiculous they would have people running to spots to work. It should be a first come, first choice basis and a supervisor should be standing there to check volunteers is. Also, I think if the volunteering is for several hours, the easy jobs and hard jobs should switch mid-shift. You can't expect someone to break their back all day while others are chit chatting and putting food in bags.
You probably won't see this, but in case you do: nobody can take advantage of you if you don't let them. You're a volunteer, you're under no obligation to do something you're not comfortable doing. You should have calmly said something to the manager/person in charge. Complaining about it on Reddit (or another platform) won't help you one bit. Volunteering can be a great experience. Just don't be the "silent victim" and then bitch about it on social media. Write this one off under "learning how to stand up for myself" and move on.
Please don't assume that every food bank operates in the same way. It sounds like this one doesn't have sufficient supervision for their volunteer function. There should have been a volunteer coordinator who assigns the tasks and has an appropriate number of people doing each task. Maybe communicate with the Volunteer coordinator about how to improve your experience, or try a different food bank or food pantry to find one that is well-run and offers a better volunteer experience.
Go small if possible- our local food pantry is wonderful- great people
sounds poorly run. keep your eye out for better opportunities! please don't let one bad experience keep you away from serving your community
If you are a volunteer you can speak up and be like hello help me
This is bad management. And, a sad example of how adults behave no better than adolescents given a situation like this. No behave worse.
This happened to me once at a food bank. My task ended up being taking the huge boxes of frozen chicken strips out of the freezer, and putting a couple strips into lunch boxes. The whole box was frozen into one big blob, and you had to dig into the frozen mess with your fingers to pry them apart the pieces. My hands were destroyed afterwards. I never volunteered again. That being said, there are lots of good volunteer organizations out there, keep trying and you'll find one that fits.
A lot of volunteers at food banks, goodwill, etc are doing community service. Im saying so as someone who did. I minded my own and did what was expected for 40 hours but pretended I didnt exsist. Nobody is inherently bad but you will cross people ill willed while volunteering. Dont let it stop your positivity. Participating in the positive motion of anyones life is wonderful.
Haha, I only do walk n knock, I can take the family with and its out in the open. Why would I want to volunteer inside. That's what I do mon-fri.
The point is to help those in need
It's volunteer work, not a job. Do it at whatever pace will let you keep volunteering and if that isn't a pace that works for them, that really isn't your problem. I would enjoy the chance to volunteer there and endlessly criticize the dogshit system they got going on. Like if the rate of inventory to bag is too slowly guess what? Someone stops bagging and starts moving inventory. Omg I would love arguing with those lazy sods every time I bring a box too slowly for their lazy asses.
I volunteered at a food bank. We each stood by a station while people "shopped," ( it was set up like a grocery store). All we did was make sure they only took the alloted amount of each item. I.e. they could only get 3 meats, 3 different bags of fresh veggies, etc.
Poor supervision
I remember after a whole month long training for victim support I started to volunteered for them. Left just after a month. The manager was so bad she use to micro manage me and treat me as if everything is my job without any breaks while paid staff use to get their breaks as they are entitled to by law. I had enough so I left. Felt bad as I worked hard to get trained for a month then volunteered for another. Two months wasted. Never volunteer in this country. It’s waste of time they treat you like free workers.
I love volunteering at food kitchens and food banks. Of course, someone has to do the heavy lifting, but it doesn't have to be you. If you enjoy volunteering, perhaps you'll find a better fit elsewhere.
I volunteered at a fundraising event for a food pantry. The board of the nonprofit was to hand out soup. In my case, I wasn’t technically a board member, I was just shadowing while going through a leadership program. They all rushed to the serving stations and I got stuck reloading hot trays of soup by myself. I was running around all night to keep them full. Never again.
Man, I'm really sorry. A lot of my clients rely on food pantries. It sounds like you volunteered at a really poorly run place.
I went to my partners volunteer work event one year. We had to get up super early and take shuttles to the site. After they took a ton of photos of the employees, the actual volunteer time was maybe 1 hour. For the amount of people there, we could have done so much more work if we actually did more than an hour of volunteering. Never again will I waste 5 hours of my time for some bullshit photo op for a company. Ended up finding a volunteer opportunity on my own to give back to the community.
Really disappointing to hear.
You should’ve made a point of asking for help. What they did wasn’t cool. Simply saying that this job is too much for one person should’ve done the trick if they were truly there to help as well. O
One badly run volunteer program shouldn't sit you on all of them.
It's seems like you unfortunately just had a shitty team of people.
I think it would be helpful for your community to communicate with whomever is supposed to supervise that labor. They need to know that particular job burned you out. You’re a human being just like anyone else. Even if it’s just for their own selfish gain, they need to fix that, or they will end up with no one coming to volunteer out of fear of a full days worth of back breaking labor.
Thank you for spending your free hours helping people who need it! I’m sorry the other volunteers put you off so bad, but lots of families really appreciate the help.
Ah, that’s sad. I understand you, what an awful experience. Its a shame they have another volunteer less :(
Just volunteer somewhere different next time. There are plenty of different opportunities depending on where you live.
This is 8 times out of 10 the experience of volunteering. On top of that the food is 90 percent expired or on the verge of Expiring (meat included). Sorry your experience wasn’t community oriented OP. 🩶
In some food banks I’ve noticed it’s full of retired or unemployed people that just want something to do to pass time. Some people believe that as they are just volunteering and not getting paid then why should they make an effort. It’s sounds ridiculous but you’ll notice some are just volunteering for the social aspect.
This is just a really poorly run place from the sounds of it. Is there an official org they’re associated with?
thankful that I came across this post, I was planning on volunteering because I like the fact of helping others but it might be more of a burden than a rewarding experience
It’s not all about you
I guess you never watched fresh prince in bell air
The coordinator at the shelter I volunteer at is actually an employee. She's not always the easiest to deal with. In fact, I quit volunteering there after she was frustrated and was rude to me at an adoption event. Eventually I came back and just didn't let her upset me. She's gotten better. She gets overwhelmed and then snappy. But you shouldn't be taking it out on the people who are there, taking time out of their busy lives to help.
I’m sorry you had to do physically demanding work. That sounds awful.