Lecia Finney, who has lived in Oakland for 20 years, has been volunteering with ACCFB since September 2024. “I started volunteering through my company. I first came just as a participant and then I enjoyed it enough and it’s convenient to me and important for my community,” she says.
After leading work activities to bring groups to ACCFB’s Community Engagement Center to volunteer, Lecia started coming as an individual volunteer, where after biking over to the Food Bank, she spends her time bagging produce, filling boxes on conveyor lines, and chatting with whoever is sitting near her.
In addition to volunteering at ACCFB, Lecia spends time with four-legged members of the community, volunteering as a canine companion to walk and socialize dogs at the East Bay SPCA and volunteering at Cat Town Oakland, a cat rescue and cat cafe.
Community is a key factor that keeps Lecia coming back to volunteer at ACCFB: “the community here is so strong and helps me to be engaged. It’s just really simple and supportive…I feel like I’m doing work and I’m getting that social satisfaction. I’m getting to engage with other folks. It’s been really fulfilling to get to have that community and start to recognize faces and see people again and again.”
For Lecia, supporting ACCFB is especially important in the wake of federal cuts to programs like SNAP: “The recent news about federal funding going in different ways reminded me that the Food Bank is a really good place to have a tangible impact on the community,” she says.
As Lecia says, “It just doesn’t take much to do something good.” She adds: “I love the Alameda County and Oakland community, and I want to enable other people to love it as well. I can spend just a little bit of time and you know make sure somebody’s got oranges for their kids’ lunch. I can give a little bit of money and make sure that they’ve got cheese and milk in their in their fridge when they want it. It’s such a small effort that can have a big impact.”
