With approximately 5,800 volunteers contributing 34,000 hours annually, Virginia Peninsula Foodbank uses VolunteerHub to organize opportunities, communicate, and track participation across its operations.
Virginia Peninsula Foodbank relies on volunteers to help distribute millions of pounds of food to neighbors throughout the community. They pack boxes, sort donations, prepare produce, support mobile and senior living distributions, assist shoppers in the community pantry, and contribute to special events throughout the year.
Alexis Robinson, Volunteer Recruitment & Engagement Coordinator, oversees volunteer recruitment, scheduling, communication, and engagement. She works with individuals, families, schools, businesses, community groups, and other organizations to connect people with meaningful ways to serve.
“Our volunteers are involved in nearly every part of our operation. Their time allows us to serve more neighbors efficiently and effectively.”
Supporting a Volunteer Program That Reaches Across the Food Bank
Volunteer support extends across nearly every department at Virginia Peninsula Foodbank.
Volunteers pack nutritious, nonperishable food for distribution sites, sort donations to ensure food is safe and undamaged, prepare produce, and help neighbors shop in a community pantry designed to feel like a small grocery store. They also assist with mobile pantry distributions, senior living distributions, and special community events.
That work is essential to the Food Bank’s ability to respond to hunger throughout the region.
“Volunteers are the legs of our operation.”
Managing that support in a food bank environment requires flexibility. Volunteer needs can change based on donations, inventory, distribution schedules, and community demand. Robinson must keep opportunities meaningful while adjusting to operational needs that can shift quickly.
“Managing all of those moving pieces requires strong communication and an organized scheduling system. VolunteerHub helps us do that.”
Creating One Central Place for Volunteer Management
As the Food Bank’s volunteer program grew, having events, registrations, communication, and hours organized in one place became increasingly important.
VolunteerHub provides a centralized system for both staff and volunteers. In her role, Robinson uses it throughout the day to monitor registrations, respond to questions, create new opportunities, communicate schedule changes, generate reports, and keep the volunteer calendar aligned with the Food Bank’s current needs. The platform is also used to track hours for students participating in its culinary program.
“VolunteerHub is one of the first programs I open every morning. It is a core platform that we use throughout the day.”
For Robinson, creating opportunities and communicating changes no longer requires moving between disconnected tools.
“Creating new opportunities is a breeze, and I can generate the reports I need in just a few seconds.”
Making Volunteer Participation More Accessible
Virginia Peninsula Foodbank works with volunteers ranging from age 12 to older adults. Despite that wide range of ages and comfort levels with technology, Robinson consistently hears that VolunteerHub is easy to use.
Volunteers can browse opportunities, register for shifts, and manage their own schedules without needing staff assistance. That independence creates a more convenient experience for volunteers while reducing routine administrative work for staff.
“Volunteers have greater independence because they can register for opportunities and manage their own schedules.”
Centralized information and consistent communication also help volunteers stay informed. Volunteers are highly engaged with the platform and are often the first to let Robinson know when an opportunity needs to be updated.
Reducing Manual Coordination with VolunteerHub
VolunteerHub helps Robinson spend less time correcting registrations and attendance records manually.
One example is the ability to identify volunteers with pending checkouts. Previously, she reviewed recorded hours each day to determine who had forgotten to check out and then entered the missing time herself. Having that information filtered by opportunity makes the process easier to manage.
The result is less time spent adjusting records and more time available for relationship-building.
“I spend a lot less time adjusting registrations and more time building relationships.”
That balance is particularly valuable in a role centered on both recruitment and engagement. Administrative efficiency gives her more room to connect with volunteers and strengthen their experience with the Food Bank.
Using VolunteerHub Reporting to Understand Participation
Reporting gives the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank insight into more than total volunteer hours.
Different staff members oversee volunteers across various events and programs. VolunteerHub allows them to review information relevant to their areas, including who is registered and how many hours volunteers have contributed.
Robinson also uses cancellation reporting to identify opportunities where volunteers may be less likely to remain engaged. That information helps the Food Bank better understand where retention is strong and where the volunteer experience may need additional attention.
“Being able to provide separate reports for the people overseeing different volunteer groups has been amazing.”
By making participation data easier to access, VolunteerHub supports operational reporting while also helping the Food Bank evaluate volunteer engagement.
An Easy Volunteer Management Platform for Staff to Learn
When Robinson joined the Virginia Peninsula Foodbank, she had not used VolunteerHub before, but she adapted to the platform quickly.
She estimates that within her first two or three days, she was comfortable enough to begin managing the program independently. Product communications, assistance videos, and access to support have continued to help her discover additional ways to use the system.
“Coming from SignUpGenius, moving to VolunteerHub felt like a fever dream. Within two or three days, I was fully comfortable using the platform.”
That ease of adoption matters for organizations planning for growth. Robinson recommends evaluating not only what a volunteer program needs today, but also where it is headed.
A system should be easy for volunteers to use while giving staff the communication, scheduling, and reporting tools needed to support a growing program.
Spending Less Time on Logistics and More Time Engaging Volunteers
For Virginia Peninsula Foodbank, VolunteerHub connects the administrative parts of volunteer management with the people-focused work that keeps volunteers engaged.
The platform supports registration, scheduling, communication, hour tracking, reporting, and opportunity management while giving volunteers more control over their own participation.
“VolunteerHub allows us to spend less time managing logistics and more time engaging volunteers to support our mission, while keeping our program organized, efficient, and accessible for both staff and volunteers.”
With thousands of volunteers supporting nearly every area of the organization, that combination of structure and accessibility helps Virginia Peninsula Foodbank remain responsive to changing needs while continuing to provide meaningful service opportunities.
