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Writer's pictureMatt Nooe

There’s a Heart in the Center of this Place: Volunteering at Second Harvest

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This summer, Valora McRae, a local high school student, came to volunteer at Second Harvest Food Bank. Throughout her time volunteering, she started to get to know other volunteers and began to collect their stories. The following is are excerpts from a collection she created featuring our volunteers. We hope you enjoy them!


Brian Crane heard about this job from the WXII news station and, having been retired for some time, needed something to do. He never understood golf, a popular activity for retiree’s, and wanted to fill his time with something more.

He started at Second Harvest in 2014 and has been working in one of the sorting rooms with Food Banker Mark Joyce. They’re good friends, he says, and I could tell by Crane talking about Joyce that he admires him.

Crane takes pride in helping others, loves being a part of the community and does this for friendships and fun. He feels as though these past couple of years has made him more empathetic and knows what it’s like to eat canned beans and vegetables. He’s continued here for a sense of satisfaction and good feeling. He’s had a recent head injury and has been out for a while, but cannot wait to get back to work. I think that shows a lot about his personality, don’t you?

Princess Miller is Mareo Henderson’s communicator. These two have a special bond. Henderson prefers to work and enjoys being around others, he smiles and always waves at me when I walk in the door. These two are both very sweet and social. Henderson started at Second Harvest in 2013 and Miller joined two years after him.

“It feels good to give people what they need and it’s inspirational.” Miller says that she was taught by her mother on how to give and that Second Harvest has opened her eyes on the importance of preserving food.


Nick Edwards started volunteering at Second Harvest in the summer of 2015 for service hours, but kept coming back because it felt wholesome and it was fun to work. He feels as if it’s imperative because he sees the need for people to help out with homelessness or hunger problems.

This food bank has helped him also with seeing God, and has changed what he thinks is important in life. Before coming here every summer, he said he was a kid all about sports, video games and sleeping in. He realized how useless he felt. In 2017, Edwards will be a freshman at Wake Forest.

“Now I have a matured spirituality, and I see my purpose in life.”

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Get the latest news and get involved.

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Find Your Way to Feed Community.

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$1 provides 7 meals.

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GET IN TOUCH

Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest NC

3655 Reed St. 

Winston-Salem, NC 27107

hello@hungernwnc.org

Tel: 336-784-5770

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