Volunteer News

Chris volunteers as a chef in the Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa (LFCC) catering kitchen twice a week. He is a graduate of the culinary arts program at Diablo Valley College.  The culinary program required him to obtain practical on-the-job experience off campus. He was not interested in working in a restaurant, and found the Loaves and Fishes catering kitchen through the LFCC volunteer orientation. He initially thought he would volunteer in the dining room, but due to his culinary skills, the Volunteer manager suggested that he volunteer in the catering kitchen. Chris lives near the Martinez Loaves and Fishes dining room, so he was familiar with the LFCC dining experience. He wanted to give back by volunteering his chef skills.

Cliff and Jose cutup potatoes for this week's meals, while volunteer chef Chris helps to prepare beef stroganoff. Both Cliff and Chris volunteer each week in the catering kitchen. It was Jose's first time volunteering, but Cliff showed him the 'ropes'.  It takes many dedicated kitchen volunteers to help prepare the 800-900 meals per day that the catering kitchen produces for delivery to our eight dining locations. We just hit our 3.5 millioneth meal served in January, and could not have achieved this milestone without all our volunteers. A special thank you to our kitchen volunteers!

On a breezy Wednesday in February, five Bank of America volunteers served a piping hot spaghetti lunch to Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa clients in Pittsburg.  The Bank of America volunteers, Vic Vickers, Andrea Felix, Elvine Valladolid, Jerry Holleschau, and Linda Murphy are part of the Bank of America team of volunteers who serve in the Pittsburg dining room once or twice a month. Linda said she loves to help feed the hungry, and enjoys the experience.

It is with profound sadness to report the passing of Sharon (Sandy) Bohannon. Sandy faithfully volunteered at the Loaves and Fishes of Contra Costa (LFCC) Martinez location for nearly two years. Sandy generously gave her time to assist in the mission at Loaves and Fishes every Monday and Friday. She especially enjoyed working in the back supply room, organizing, cleaning and marking the donated breads & bagging desserts for the Loaves clients. She was always available to contribute when needed in other roles at Loaves & Fishes in Martinez. One of Sandy’s biggest goals in life was to help those who were less fortunate. She was always ready to give and not receive.  Her greatest joy was her grandchildren Anthony, Sean, Sarah and Kathleen. She is survived by her sons Derek (Celeste) of Antioch, and Brent (Cheryl) of Salem, OR and sister Donna Davis. Sandy will be greatly missed by staff, clients, friends and family including her Loaves & Fishes family