Fresno Students Volunteer at Community Food Bank

Fresno campus American Medical Technologists Student Society club (AMT-SS) members know the importance of serving the needs of their community – especially those in their community who are struggling with the most basic food and shelter needs of day-to-day life.

Recently elected Club President, Wendy Flores, who will graduate from the Medical Assisting program next March, made one of her first acts of business that of identifying an agency that could use a few good volunteers. Twenty-eight AMT Club members from both the Medical Assisting and Medical Office Administration programs were ready to roll up their uniform sleeves and lend some able hands.

“My brain just started going crazy, thinking of things we could do,” says Wendy.

Wendy landed on Fresno’s Community Food Bank as the perfect beneficiary of the club’s volunteer spirit. “It’s giving back to the community and getting involved, while we help our careers and our professionalism,” she says.

In business since 1992, the Community Food Bank provides food for 280,000 people each month who live in five counties: Fresno, Madera, Kern, Tulare and Kings. Over 4,000 volunteers contribute 34,000 hours each year that, last year, provided 38 million pounds of food to residential shelters, community kitchens and faith-based organizations.

Fresno campus AMT Student Society members spent a few hours early one morning helping process juice boxes for distribution at the Food Bank. They unloaded pallets, examined juice boxes for leaks, mold or damage. “The Food Bank’s warehouse is so big, it looks like Costco,” laughs Wendy. “We worked as a team; we made a difference and got to see the outcome of what we started.”

They looked the part of an efficient team. “We wore our new AMT shirts for the first time,” says Wendy, “that says ‘Because we care’.”

The AMT-SS club volunteers were pretty excited to help. “A lot of students mentioned that it was a really good experience, and some said they were interested in going back and helping again,” says Wendy.

Volunteerism is an important aspect of student education at SJVC. “In our careers, especially in the medical field, we are going to have to know how to interact with a huge diversity of people and in different scenarios,” says Wendy. “Giving back to the community places you in situations to learn how to best benefit somebody.”

This campus AMT-Student Society club is on fire and already lining up future commitments of community service.