Tomorrow is Give to the Max Day, and for Second Harvest Heartland it’s Pack to the Max Day. Second Harvest Heartland CEO Allison O'Toole joined Jill Riley to talk about how that will work this year.

Jill Riley: This is the time of year where people are thinking about where to give donations, where to volunteer their time with various organizations that give back to the community. When it comes to Second Harvest Heartland, combating hunger is really the goal - and, boy, it's been a difficult year and a half, I bet, for Second Harvest Heartland to fulfill that mission, because there have been so many challenges caused by the pandemic.

Allison O’Toole: You're so right, Jill. It has been a heck of a 20-plus months for Second Harvest Heartland and this team. But you know, what gives me hope is that this community has surrounded us and has helped us get through it, and in turn has helped this community stay well and fed throughout. But we need to keep going.

Hunger is harder to face this holiday season than ever before. I'm sure many people have been hearing about how the supply chains are tightening and consumer prices are going up. That means prices go up for us, too, when we're purchasing food to provide the community. The good news in all of this is that everyone can play a role in fighting hunger and everyone can help get to the max stage tomorrow. Financial donations are so important to keeping us going. Our [fundraising] goal [tomorrow] is to provide 2.5 million meals. But also really importantly, if people can give up their time, we need that help. We need volunteer support. That's how we do so much of our work. We make it fun, and it's easy to do.

When you talk about Wellness Wednesday: it feels good to give back. We’re ready for everyone.

I've participated in it in the past; it's the big Pack to the Max Day. I imagine that this year, it's it's going to be nice to really have some people back packing some food.

We are so excited and so thankful to The Current for helping us with this day. We're gonna Pack to the Max and our Brooklyn Park facility will host over 200 volunteers throughout the day. We are ready to go here; everyone's craving some engagement. And boy, we're going to be ready for it tomorrow and so thankful for people who are coming in. I should note, Jill, that those shifts are packed, the “Max” are full. But there are loads of other volunteer shifts open in there right on our website.

Volunteering and giving is such a big part of one's own well-being.

Oh, absolutely. And there's a whole bunch of research about how giving back helps keep your your own mind and body well. I see it across this team every day at Second Harvest Heartland. We're giving back every day; we all feel so fortunate. We've weathered the pandemic a little differently, because we've been able to have a tangible impact on what's happening in our community. It can make for a beautiful holiday to give meals or give back to your community. We would love to host any of your listeners who can give up their time, this holiday season and beyond, to help us pack meals for our community.

Being a part of a community and investing in a community and doing what you can to help: there is a lot of power in that.

We could never get through this alone, without the help of the community, and right now we're asking the community to stick with us. It's gonna take us a while to get through this still…I should really highlight an important piece of what we're seeing with the ongoing pandemic and economic crisis: we see communities of color experiencing food insecurity at twice the rates of their white counterparts. So, we are not at the end of the tunnel here. We have more work to do. We must do better in reaching the communities that need help, and we're committed to doing that here. We can do that if the community sticks with us.

Every Wednesday morning at 8:30 CST, Jill Riley connects with experts and local personalities for some real talk about keeping our minds and bodies healthy — from staying safe in the music scene, to exercising during a pandemic, to voting and civic engagement. Looking for more resources and support? Visit our friends at Call to Mind, MPR's initiative to foster new conversations about mental health. Subscribe to Wellness Wednesday as a podcast on Spotify, Apple, RSS, Radio Public, Stitcher, or Amazon Music.

Wellness Wednesday is hosted by Jill Riley, and produced by Christy Taylor and Jay Gabler. Our theme music is a portion of the song "F.B. One Number 2" by Christian Bjoerklund under the Non Commercial Share Alike 3.0 International License.