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 Junko Yasuda (.(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.

 

Volunteering at Second Harvest Japan

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

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 Tokyo Metropolitan 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.

 

Please click to see Volunteer Scheduling

 

 

To Volunteer at 2HJ, You Need to Register Here

Volunteer Registration Form

 

 

【Important Notice Regarding the Insurance for 2HJ Volunteer Activities】
Second Harvest Japan (2HJ) has been covered by the NPO Comprehensive Insurance (NPO Katsudo Sogo Hoken) since January 2012. The insurance provides comprehensive coverage (liability & accident) to 2HJ as a non-profit organization, and to its employees and volunteers during all official activities associated with the organization. All registered volunteers will be under the following coverage at no cost:

*NPO Liability insurance
Liabilities against the third party (e.g. recipients of 2HJ services, 2HJ partners) during all official volunteering activities associated with 2HJ, and by its employees and registered volunteers
*NPO Accident insurance
Coverage for any accident/damage/injury to 2HJ employees and registered volunteers that happen during all official volunteering activities associated with the organization.

For further details, please read this documents (provided by the Miyazaki Insurance Company, Ltd.),

Get Involved

Donate food
Donate money
Donate equipment