How We Helped

Burlington, Vermont : Prab (left) and Nirmala Kamath are two longtime volunteers at the Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf, working each week in the distribution room. Because of volunteers from the organization of which the Kamath's belong, the Sri Satya Sai Baba Center of Essex Junction, the Food Shelf will be open on April 2nd. Members of the center regularly perform community service such as serving meals at the Salvation Army and working with the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program to welcome and help resettle newly arriving families.


Nirmala has been volunteering for about eight years; Prab got started two years ago.
How they help: Both of them work in the commodity distribution area. The work entails certifying and recertifying the clients -- making sure the household income is under the threshold set by the Food Shelf and checking the Social Security information for all members of the household. They also explain to clients the assistance provided by the Food Shelf and make them aware of other available resources within the community. After the paperwork is done, the couple assist the clients in selecting food from what's available on the shelves in the distribution room, paying particular attention to their diet restrictions.
Why volunteer at the Food Shelf: "For starters, the staff at the Food Shelf is exceptionally dedicated and compassionate. It is a wonderful experience to be involved with such an effective organization. While we started to volunteer to help out, we believe that we are getting good value lessons in return. For example, a client would decline to take an item, such as a box of cereal, etc., because they don't need it this time. They may be hard-pressed to make ends meet, but they have 'greed' under control. In a thriving community like Burlington, no one should go hungry. Thanks to the generosity of individual families and businesses, the Food Shelf is able to meet the needs of many households. We consider ourselves lucky to be able to do our small part in this very important endeavor." -- Nirmala Kamath and Prab Kamath IBM Food Drive
Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf

IBM employees in Vermont pledged more than $1.1 million in cash to local charities during the company's Employee Charitable Contribution Campaign (ECCC), benefiting United Ways in five counties and other nonprofit human service agencies not associated with the organization, the company said.

As part of this, more than 8 tons of food was distributed to area food shelves, and more than 14,000 hours of volunteer time were donated for projects at several area agencies. The Chittenden Emergency Food Shelf benefited from the generosity in food collected and volunteer hours donated.