The third phase thrift store started out as just another place to do community service for juvenile…read moreprobation. As I continued to go, it became an eye opener for me. I began to see the type of person I would be if I didn't correct my course in life, although the reality of it hadn't hit me yet. I met lasting friends there at the food pantry whom I still talk to today. Today, after 3 years of prison the reality has hit. I am changing my life and the third phase is an integral part of my level of maturity today. Because of this place, what they do, and the people who work there, I know where I am headed in life. Who knows... Maybe after 3 years they forgot who I am. But I didn't forget them and I never will. I have found a different course in life. One that will lead me to success and happiness, and years down the road when I am on oxygen and my grandkids are yelling at me from their carseats to go faster, I'll drive past the place where the third phase used to sit with a tear in my eye and thank the Gods that they blessed me with those people. So, if your looking for "another place" to do your "stupid" community service; I would like for you to know that if you let them, these people can help you. If you let it, this can be more for you than...." Just another place." Yours Truly- Sean P. Robinson

I love bringing my "nice" donations here knowing that there's no middle man! Donations go directly…read moreto those in need locally.

If you are looking for volunteering opportunities, Gleaners is Wonderful!! I've volunteered here a…read morefew times and it's very well organized, and fulfilling. Just go to www.gleaners.volunteerhub.com to get started, sign up for a shift or a few. I've done the front of house and gotten hugs from some of the recipients that walk through, and yesterday I tried doing the back warehouse area. The magnitude of food that comes through is astounding. In the few hours that I was there we sorted through about 500 pounds of food? I enjoyed helping with the warehouse to see where it all begins just as much as I've enjoyed helping in the front of house. A common task in the front is taking food to vehicles since you can't take the shopping carts in the back, and there are quite a few elderly that come in. If you have extra time, they have more than 26,000 volunteer visits each year. Check it out, it seems to make me think my problems are not that bad whenever I do a shift.

I really enjoyed volunteering here. It was very impacting. I've never worked in a warehouse before…read morebut I would imagine that it's similar to the assembly line we had. I was at stop 3 so I handed out salad, peppers, or brocolli along with a pack of Starry and a bag from Starbucks. I didnt give 5 stars because some of the bags had old dates. I asked what the dates meant and was told not to worry about it. Many of the families driving through were very grateful and thanked us while the others looked away or didnt say anything at all. I was really happy to serve the community and would enjoy going back.

The Northside Food Pantry is a food pantry that serves Washington Township residents in…read moreIndianapolis. Based out of Second Presbyterian Church, Northside Food Pantry offers food support to Washington Township residents up to twice monthly and is open three days per week. In order to utilize Northside Food Pantry, you need to take in a bill or some other mail received within the last 30 days indicating your address within Washington Township (zip codes 46220, 46228, 46240, 46250, 46260 or North of 38th Street in 46205 or 46208). Northside Food Pantry utilizes quite a few volunteers for positions such as client intake, client liaison, data entry, car loader, food delivery processing, and off-loading for Nora donations. Northside Food Pantry receives its items from a variety of sources including public donations, area residents, area businesses, Gleaners Food Bank, and others. I had the opportunity to visit the food pantry recently and was impressed with their organization and the variety of healthy foods available including fruits and vegetables actually grown by the children and youth of Second Presbyterian Church. They also offer a variety of personal care supplies including the always needed diapers. I was also impressed that they offered similar personal care items for adults in need. The process has changed due to the pandemic and individuals are actually served in their vehicles. It's an effective, efficient process that seems to work well. Church leaders are actively involved in the church pantry and it's not uncommon to see Senior Pastor Chris Henry driving the Northside Food Pantry truck. I also saw that they even had some books available for the kids! Northside Food Pantry serves approximately 17,000 people annually and over 400 families monthly.

Much of the food I received was expired or no longer edible. As the food accumulated and continued…read moredeteriorating, I spent hours sorting through it, trying to determine what was safe to eat. I continued accepting the deliveries because I was confused and was trying to do the right thing. I should have spoken up sooner, but that does not change the condition of the food I received. This got to the point last Thursday where I was picking up a pineapple that was left at my home- the result tore up my back and now I am in incredible pain! And any kind of movement hurts. I'm telling you this not only for my own benefit, but because other elderly or vulnerable people may not be able to inspect everything carefully and could become ill.

I first learned about Dotted Line Divas via my involvement with the Yelp Community and through Yelp…read moreCM Niki's support of the organization. Both personally and professionally, I filed it away in my "good to know" file and was pleased to learn about a dependable community resource meeting a unique, often unfulfilled need. As someone who has been homeless on two occasions in my life, a by-product mostly of having a significant disability that can create chaos at any moment, I've been in the position before of basically doing anything I can to survive. While it has been years since I've faced such challenges, having done so gives me a deep appreciation for those who address those needs and for those who find themselves in such a situation as it can truly happen to anyone. Dotted Line Divas is a faith-based non-profit organization (501c3) that utilizes extreme couponing methods to purchase personal care and hygiene items at a significant discount then turns around and gives these items to families in need. We're in the middle of a pandemic. There are a lot of families in need. Dotted Line Divas operates out of Mercy Road Church Northwest at 96th & Michigan Road. While the pandemic has impacted their once monthly pantry day on the third Saturday of each month, the pantry days go on but are treated as a "drive-thru" with people remaining in their vehicles when they arrive. The organization, which also teaches extreme couponing, opened its personal care pantry in 2016 and has grown in terms of families served and community awareness of the organization. They utilize at least 20 volunteers for each pantry day and are always seeking bilingual volunteers (especially Spanish and Burmese). Yes, Indy has a high Burmese refugee population. While I have donated to Dotted Line Divas, my review is actually based upon my experience helping a family access a pantry day and being able to successfully do so in a way that met the family's needs and did so with much love, respect, and dignity. While processes are in place for a reason and are incredibly necessary, I was impressed, and more importantly the family was grateful, with the kindness and compassion they received at a time when they'd found themselves in a serious financial challenge due to the pandemic and unable to meet their needs. By offering both goods and education about couponing, a nice combo undoubtedly designed by the founder who'd been through the experience herself, this organization offers more of a hand-up than simply a hand-out. This family needed some temporary support and, yes, it worked out ideally because with these hygiene items they were able to continue self-care, continue job interviews, and re-enter the workforce. I'm grateful that the founder has taken her own life experiences and is paying the good forward and I'm also grateful for the volunteers who support the organization and who gather to serve with their own individual gifts. I'm grateful that Indy is blessed by the presence of such an organization - as a community, I believe we're all responsible for one another and I'm absolutely certain Indy's a better community with Dotted Line Divas in it.

Dotted Line Divas was started by an incredible woman who, while going through a hard time a few…read moreyears ago, spent every Saturday driving to local pantries to collect items for her family. She quickly realized that most food pantries had almost no personal hygiene or home items necessary to sustain a family. She redirected her attention to couponing and became incredibly good at it. She now uses her extreme couponing skills to serve 100+ families each month. She opened a personal care pantry that offers the following: shampoo, conditioner, body wash, razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste, feminine care items, diapers, wipes, toilet paper, home cleaning supplies, detergent, deodorant, books and more. This pantry is located in the new Mercy Road church off of 96th and Michigan Road and is open for "pantry day" every third Saturday of the month from 10am-12pm. Families can register beforehand or show up and fill out paperwork. Volunteers will then call a family up, take them through the pantry and ask if there's anything our team can be praying for. If there are extra items in the pantry from 12pm-1pm, people who need it can pay $1 or $2 to snag additional items. There needs to be ideally 20 volunteers to make this nonprofit possible every third Saturday. Bonus points if you can speak Spanish or Burmese. Please sign up on their website sign up link before showing up to volunteer so they know you're coming. If you have a few extra hours, it'll mean the world to the families and you'll meet incredibly kind people that you'll feel honored to help! Everyone is so kind and sweet. I even learned a ton of Spanish thanks to the patient people who taught me while we shopped!

Working at a food pantry truly gives you life perspective. If you aren't hungry and have a place to…read morego tonight, you're blessed, something I always try to keep in the back of my mind. You'd be surprised as to how many people don't have those luxuries (and yes, even people in Carmel). Families come into the food pantry all day and they're guided through the fruits, veggies, frozen food, frozen meats, breads, and dessert sections of the food pantry. Based on the number of family members they have to feed, they can select different amounts of each food item. The food pantry is often in need of those fresh fruits and veggies (especially in winter when they aren't getting the leftovers from the summer farmers market down the road). Toiletries are also always needed: deodorant, diapers, toilet paper, soaps, shampoo/conditioner, etc. Check their hours, then you can donate foods or sign up to volunteer and it's much appreciated.

We dropped off a few food items for someone in need. Great work team! I'll be back with more items…read moresoon.

What a fantastic organization and very well organized they continue to need help through money and…read moredonations. As I was there donating from a food drive, there was a continuous buzz of food being loaded onto large trucks coming and going. They often rely on food surplus which isn't happening during the pandemic https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.indystar.com/amp/5218064002 . Everyone was very nice and when I called to donate they had people to unload all with smiles on their face. It took 2 days for Gleaners to call me back; They had someone to talk to immediately. They also said our donation would be back out the door and in someone who needed it's hands within 48hrs!

This is a wonderful organization working hard, with a largely volunteer staff, to end hunger one…read morefamily at a time by supplying food one donation at a time.

I attended a fund raising event (the Dream Ball) for Second Harvest Food Bank and had a great…read moreexperience. This is an annual event and I would recommend that you purchase a ticket and attend each year. The funds raised go to feed the hungry people across East Central Indiana and we all should do what we can to help end hunger in our communities. I would also recommend that you volunteer (it's located by the old Water Bowl) outside of Muncie. It is awesome to see the great efforts that go into feeding those in need.

Partnered with this organization with Big Brothers Big Sisters, and I must say what an amazing…read moreevent it was. The idea behind it is amazing. I love that they ship the food packets across the world, but also keep some local. There was clear organization and explanation for the packing process. Due to the variety of jobs, any one at any age could volunteer here. I would love to come back and help with future packing.

My friend had introduced me to this organization a couple of years ago. On Thanksgiving evening we…read morewent and "packed" as many boxes as we could for people in Haiti. Pack Away Hunger has public packing events that you can form a team or just sign up individually. They also have sponsored packing events that are closed to the business, church, or civic groups. You just have to show up and they will train you on what you need to do. It's simple and easy to do. They will have stations that you will be assigned. I've sealed the bags, scooped the dried vegetables and I've also weighed the bags. They have other jobs like stacking the bags in boxes, scooping rice, and opening the bags. It's really a smooth process. It's a great way to help people out that are suffering from malnutrition and hunger. The lack of nutrients creates serious health effects in men, women and children. That's why each one of the Nutri-Plenty bags has rice and a dried vegetables with lots of nutrients added to it. The Nutri-Plenty bags are stacked into boxes and then shipped all over the world. If you get the chance to help pack it really is amazing to see how many the team can pack in one event. They have Instagram, Facebook and Twitter pages as well as a website if you want more information on when the next public pack event will be. We packed almost 8,000 meals in one event. It's a great cause that will help so many!

My organization volunteers here monthly. This is an awesome place to volunteer. The staff and other…read morevolunteers are friendly and inviting. It is a busy day but it goes by really fast and you almost don't realize that you have been there for 3-4 hours. The Pantry has wonderful produce, meats, breads, and other items donated to them to give to those in need in the community. Some of the fruits and vegetables are fresher than some of the items I have seen in store. I love the fact that the food the people get is as desirable as food I would purchase in a store.

I have gone to Anna's House for years. They always make you feel welcome. The staff and volunteers…read moreare wonderful, they treat you with respect and dignity. Produce is something that you don't normally get at a food pantry and theirs is fresher than a lot of stores. They always have a nice supply of it, among many other foods and supplies. Rebecca B.