HOW To: Food Packing

Individuals can volunteer by packing food and other supplies in our warehouse and/or by delivering the items directly to those in need. Our food distributions take place once a month over the course of 5 days. Check out the short videos above to get an idea of the different opportunities. Volunteers should register in advance using our monthly sign-up form located on our Volunteer Calendar page. The full schedule for our yearly Food Distributions can be found there as well! 

There are three main delivery route types that volunteers may encounter: house-to-house, garden-style apartment complexes, and apartment buildings. 

If a volunteer is delivering house-to-house, they will receive a delivery route with addresses for individual homes, townhomes, or even one apartment inside a building. Volunteers should leave the JRA boxes at each house, making sure that boxes are placed so that recipients are able to open their door. 

A garden-style apartment complex is made up of multiple buildings that have their own entrances to get into each building. If a volunteer is delivering to a garden-style apartment complex, they should go inside each building and leave the JRA boxes outside of each individual client’s apartment unit in the building. This is crucial as many of our seniors cannot easily climb stairs or carry the food boxes down hallways. When delivering to a garden-style apartment complex, volunteers will receive a pack of labels to help ensure that the correct client is receiving their items. If JRA is aware of a door code, it will be listed on the delivery route packet. If not, please call the client to ask you to let you in. If there is a language barrier, please call JRA to assist you. 

If a volunteer is delivering to an apartment building, it will be a single stop as all of the units are located in a single building. Volunteers should go into the building and leave the items outside each individual client’s apartment unit, unless there is a note in the delivery route packet that says otherwise.This is crucial as many of our seniors cannot easily climb stairs or carry the food boxes down hallways. When delivering to an apartment building, volunteers will receive a pack of labels to ensure that the correct client is receiving their items. 

You can volunteer as much or as little as you like, depending on your time constraints.  Depending on the route you choose, delivery time can differ, but the average delivery time is about 1 hour. 

We'd love to have you! Walk-ins are welcome for our Sunday food packing shifts; however, advanced registration is required for our Thursday and Friday packing shifts. Routes can become available at any time. Please call or text us at  (610) 660 - 0190 during the posted schedule to ask about available routes. 

JRA recipients are notified when they can expect their food delivery based on the day a volunteer is scheduled to pick it up from the warehouse. Since most volunteers do deliver as soon as they leave the warehouse, recipients often plan to be home during the posted hours. If you need to deliver at a later time or a different date from when you pick up the items at the warehouse, let a JRA Staff member know as soon as possible, so they can relay that information to the recipients.  We ask that you deliver to recipient homes while it is light outside. JRA can be reached by calling or texting 610-660-0190.

Deliveries are made in the 5-county Greater Philadelphia area including Bucks County, Montgomery County, Delaware County, Philadelphia County, and Chester County.  Find a full list of the specific zip codes in our delivery service area here. We will work with you to find a delivery route that best meets your needs, availability, and size of your vehicle. 

Yes, some of our delivery routes contain only a few packages. 

Yes, we provide volunteers with a list of addresses. Volunteers can request to receive printed driving instructions and maps as well.

If you are unable to come to a distribution that you have already signed up for and were planning to deliver a route, please call or text us at 610-660-0190 or email us at volunteering@jewishrelief.org.  

Many of the recipients JRA serves speak Russian as their native language. We've made this handy resource to help you communicate. JRA Guide to Useful Russian Phrases. You can also click here to open a YouTube playlist with pronunciations! If you still have trouble, call us at 610-660-0190 and we can translate.