By Margo Millard, North Stake Media Specialist
Last month, the Sonterra Ward Youth assembled 1,558 cardboard boxes from scratch at the San Antonio Food Book. Sturdy cartons are essential to food bank operations since it is the most convenient way to fill customer orders and distribute them. The youth fulfilled a critical need because without boxes, food sits on a shelf!
The youth were organized into various assembly lines to complete each stage of box construction and storage.
Step #1: Boxes have two parts: top and bottom. Unfold cardboard and tape accordingly. Dance to music that many older leaders recognize from their youth.
Step #2: Throw tops and bottoms to the box assemblers. They assemble boxes with the top outside the bottom, or the bottom inside the top. Same difference.
Step #3: Box assemblers stack boxes on top of pallets, 7 boxes high. Run around the stack with plastic wrap as fast as you can, securing the load.
Step #4: Haul that stack of boxes to storage area. Note: most haulers were unlicensed drivers with no parallel parking experience and they were amazing!
The San Antonio Food Bank has perfected their volunteer operations with excellent organization and the best playlist for rocking out! It was a great activity that inspired youth to work in teams, teach each other, master a skill that proved awkward at first (taping those boxes!) and have fun while doing it all.
