Banana Beat: Monthly Nutritional Outreach on Wednesday Mornings

The DTES Neighbourhood House is looking for volunteers to help with our Banana Beat program 1 Wednesday per month from 8:45-10:30am (this timing may change in the future). This role involves preparing large quantities of bananas to be handed out to local residents on cheque issue day. This is an unpaid position.

Banana Beat operates on “Welfare Wednesdays” (or cheque day). The first Banana Beat was held in August 2006, bringing nutritional wealth (in the form of potassium and other nutrients) as well as dignity and the reminder of inherent deservedness to hundreds of our neighbours who line up in the pre-dawn hours, awaiting the opening of offices to access their Social Assistance payments. Created by the DTES NH, the Banana Beat remains one of our most cherished vehicles for grassroots community consultation and development.

VOLUNTEER DUTIES:
On cheque issue day (the 3rd or 4th Wednesday of the month), Banana Beat staff and volunteers meet at the Neighbourhood House by 8:45am to get organized to be ready to go by 9am at the latest. Volunteer teams go out on a specific route to give out bananas to DTES residents. When the bananas are gone, teams return to the Neighbourhood House to report stats to supervisor, clean carts, and other duties, such as downsizing cardboard boxes until work is complete.

VOLUNTEER REQUIREMENTS:
-	Must be able to walk long distances
-	Must be comfortable with street based outreach work and adhere to our code of conduct while out in the community
-	Understanding of, and adherence to the DTESNH philosophies
-	Treat all with dignity and respect 
-	Reliable
-	Familiarity with the DTES 
-	Ability to be at the Neighbourhood House early on cheque issue day
-	Must be able to commit to volunteering for Banana Beat for at least 2 months 
-	Must be ok with being outside for the program even when its raining
-	Inform supervisor of any planned absences or unexpected illnesses.
-	Watch the required training videos and read training material before starting to volunteer

ASSETS (helpful but not required):
-	Ability to lift 40lbs 
-	Lived or living experience, relation or kinship with DTES community members or their experiences
-	Naloxone Training
-	First Aid Certification
-	Food Safe
-	Volunteer or work experience in the DTES
-       Being multilingual (especially Chinese language skills)
-	Sense of humour is always an asset :)

APPLY: Our application, screening and onboarding process includes: 
1. Email volunteer@dtesnhouse.ca letting us know which position you are applying for, a bit about yourself, and why you want to volunteer. 
2. Applicants will be sent volunteer forms to fill out  
3. Once we have received your completed forms, we will schedule a 15-30min phone interview/screening call, OR we can schedule a time to meet in person at the DTESNH. The call is to ensure that the role is a good fit for the volunteer, answer any questions, and if both parties agree to move forward with the placement, then we will also go over a condensed volunteer orientation. 
4. After the phone call we will ask the volunteer to review some Kitchen Safety Training Materials and 6 pages of our Volunteer Handbook before they come in for their first volunteer shift.

ABOUT THE DTES NEIGHBOURHOOD HOUSE: 
Our mission is to provide opportunities for residents to meaningfully engage with and contribute to their community in an equitable atmosphere of sharing and learning. The secular, grassroots Downtown Eastside Neighbourhood House (DTES NH) embraces people of all ancestries, genders, ages and descriptions; annually welcoming almost 9,000 DTES residents in a community where 70% of our neighbours have low‐incomes, 700 are homeless and 5,000 are under-housed.  
Those who built the DTES NH put the Right to Food at the heart of our work, as nutritional vulnerability was a theme familiar to all. Our goal around the Right to Food is to reform the nutritional impact, quality, abundance and delivery of food in the DTES in consultation with residents, community food providers, non‐food community organizations, healthcare professionals, policy makers, growers/suppliers, food/beverage industry professionals and researchers. Learn more about our organization & programs at dtesnhouse.ca The DTES NH acknowledges and honours the fact that our community lies within the Unceded Territory of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.