Volunteer Your Time
Run a Food Drive
Food drives are the lifeblood of our Harvest Pantry, which provides emergency groceries to individuals and families in need. To run a food drive, you simply collect non-perishable, non-expired food at your school, workplace, or any other location. 2HJ will send your donated food to those who need it!
Before you start your food drive, please contact Harvest Pantry Coordinator Ruby Sakuma (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)) to plan logistics and get helpful tips for making your food drive a success!
Read about people who have received food through the Harvest Pantry here.
Pickup/Dropoff Assistance
The food doesn’t move without drivers to pick it up from donors and drop it off where it’s needed. Drivers must have a Japanese driver’s license and a clean driving record. Japanese proficiency is highly desirable but is not required.
Don’t have a license but want to help move the food? Drivers can always use help loading and unloading food donations.
Drivers with their own vehcles are also welcomed. Recently we receive a lot of donation requests from agencies and those requests are sometimes larger than our logistics capacity. If you can cooperate with us by driving your own car it would be most welcomed.
Pickups and dropoffs happen nearly every day of the week. Please e-mail .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) to let us know your availability.
Read the story of one of our volunteer drivers here.
Friday Volunteer Activity
To make the Saturday Soup Kitchen possible, we’re looking for volunteers to come on Friday to prepare for Saturday’s activities. Help out by chopping vegetables and doing some basic cooking!
Morning shift: 10:00-12:30
Afternoon shift: 13:30-16:00
Location: 2HJ Warehouse/Office(Akihabara/Asakusabashi stations)
Regular participation is ideal(for example, 2 Friday per month), but one-off volunteers are also welcome. You may also sign up to come late or leave early—- we’re flexible!
For more information, email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). We plan and assign tasks based on the number of volunteers who are signed up. Please do not “just show up.” Instead, contact us to sign up. We’ll be looking forward to hearing from you!
Saturday Soup Kitchen
Our Saturday program is our main volunteering event. There are three main activities, and you’re welcome to come to one, two or all of them depending on how much time you have. Japanese proficiency is not required!
Volunteers must be at least 12 years of age.
For more information, email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). We plan and assign tasks based on the number of volunteers who are signed up. Please do not “just show up.” Instead, contact us to sign up. We’ll be looking forward to hearing from you!
Read a Saturday volunteer story here.
Saturday Overview
- 10:00-12:00—Preparation at the Second Harvest Japan warehouse in Asakusabashi
- 12:30-14:00—Soup kitchen and food Distribution at Ueno Park
- 14:30-16:00—Office and Clean Up Shift at Second Harvest Japan warehouse (same place as the preparation shift)
Preparation at the Warehouse (Shift 1: 10:00-12:00)
Help organize everything for the two food distribution activities—make soup, prepare portions, count vegetables… the more people we have, the faster it gets done!
Preparation is done at the warehouse every Saturday, 10:30-12:00. Here’s a map and some directions to help you get there.
Soup Kitchen and Food Distribution at Ueno Park (Shift 2: 12:30-14:00)
Once the preparation is complete, we make our way to Ueno Park (by train) to give it to homeless people there.
We start distributing at 12:30 in the park, near the Science Museum, and finish around 14:00. If you’re there for the preparation, you can go with everyone else; otherwise, you can meet us straight there.
Cleaning at the Warehouse (Shift 3: 14:30-16:00)
We clean up and wash pots and utensils used for the Soup Kitchen at Second Harvest Japan warehouse (same place as the preparation shift) from around 14:30 to 16:00.