Volunteer Spotlight: Don McClain

Don McClain is, in the volunteering world, what you’d call a “long-timer”. In his late 80s, he has been volunteering with Harvesters for 19 years and can still be found cracking jokes in our warehouse on a weekly basis. 
 
Don worked for years in overseas development efforts and says that he has seen firsthand the effect having enough food has on a community. He wanted to volunteer with an organization locally that had the same focus and found Harvesters. When he started volunteering, it was a smaller, scrappier organization, he recalls. 

“I remember back when you had one of your refrigerated trucks go down,” he says. “It kind of stopped operations for a while till they could raise enough money to put another refrigerator truck on the road.” 

In addition to trying his hand at just about every volunteer position we’ve ever had, Don served for years as a volunteer compliance manager, visiting different agency partners and making sure that they were operating according to our guidelines. Though Harvesters has changed a lot since those early days, our reliance on volunteers is as big as ever.  

Don generally volunteers with a regular crew on Wednesday mornings, and they have developed a friendship that extends outside of their volunteer hours, often going out to lunch after their shift or doing other social activities. For him, volunteering is much more than just a way to give back. It’s his lifestyle.

Click here to join Don in making a difference for our neighbors by volunteering!