Looking for Date Ideas? Try Volunteering as a Couple.
Love is in the air this Valentine’s Day, and we’re delighted to share the stories of five couples who make volunteering as a couple incredibly adorable and inspiring. Feeding San Diego is fortunate enough to welcome over 10,000 volunteers every year, including couples, friends, families, colleagues, neighbors, corporate groups, and more. We asked five couples who regularly volunteer together about the role that volunteering plays in their lives and relationships and why they recommend others sign up soon to benefit from giving back together.
Couple #1: Aria & Kevin
Students at the University of California, San Diego
Aria and Kevin at a Feeding San Diego food distribution
Q: How did you find out about Feeding San Diego? How often do you come in?
Aria: I first heard about Feeding San Diego when my roommate asked me if I wanted to volunteer with her when we were taking summer school together. The frequency of when I volunteer depends on how much work I have with school and extracurriculars, but on average, around once or twice a week.
Q: What made you decide to volunteer together versus doing it independently?
Aria: I enjoy volunteering with Kevin, so we can work together on projects. It’s nice to have someone that you’re close with to talk to. Talking to him makes volunteering more of a fun experience.
Q: Why do you want to donate your time to helping those affected by food insecurity?
Aria: I want to donate my time to help those who are affected by food insecurity because I understand that times can be tough when families can’t afford to put food on the table. I believe that everyone should have easy access to healthy and nutritious food so that they could have healthy lives, which is why I like to give back to those in need.
Q: How has volunteering as a couple strengthened your relationship?
Kevin: We we try to make volunteering a big part of our relationship. Spending time doing something good together gives us quality time together and helps us relax despite our busy schedules. We don’t get to see each other every day of the week, so Feeding San Diego is something we both committed to because we believe in its mission and what it can do to help others. Volunteering is also a way for us to express our mutual interests of food and helping others!
Q: How else do you spread love in San Diego besides volunteering? How do you make sure you’re living in love and kindness?
Kevin: Aside from volunteering, we both try to show kindness in our work. Aria does weekly shifts at the UCSD hospital, where she assists patients. I work as a part-time medical assistant for an ophthalmology clinic whose mission is to help the underserved. We are both very fulfilled with what we do and try our best to be compassionate towards everyone we interact with in and out of work. Besides that, we also love showing simple acts of kindness, like helping each other and our friends study or holding the door open for people on campus.
Couple #2: Sarah and Gaaron
Sarah works locally as a healthcare project and product manager. Gaaron is a receiving specialist.
Sarah and Gaaron posing after a volunteer shift at Feeding San Diego’s distribution center
Q: How did you find out about Feeding San Diego? How often do you come in?
Sarah: I found out about Feeding San Diego from a “volunteer opportunities in San Diego” Google search. Gaaron joined me after a few months. We come in every other week.
Q: What made you decide to volunteer together versus doing it independently?
Sarah: It is easier and more efficient to work the same shift rather than being there at separate times. We enjoy doing things together, so even though we may be working on separate projects during a shift, we still make a date night out of it. It is important to both of us to volunteer and give back to our local community.
Q: Why do you want to donate your time to helping those affected by food insecurity?
Gaaron: We think there is a lot of love that goes along with food. It’s a necessary element of life. Everyone needs to eat. We enjoy donating our time to help those affected by food insecurity to spread that love. No one should ever have to worry about where their next meal comes from!
Q: How has volunteering as a couple strengthened your relationship?
Sarah: We have learned a lot of things about each other’s strengths and weaknesses. We have a really good balance when volunteering (I’m always asking Gaaron for help taping boxes and wrapping pallets). It has also made us more grateful for each other and the resources that we have.
Q: What’s been your favorite experience together so far while volunteering at Feeding San Diego?
Gaaron: We love kitting! [editor’s note: kitting is assembling boxes of dry goods]
Q: How else do you spread love in San Diego besides volunteering?
Sarah: We are frequent blood donors. We are always kind to others. You never know what someone may be going through in their life. You can do simple things to show love and kindness, like smile and hold a door for someone or let someone go in front of you in the line at the grocery store.
Couple #3: Noriko and Chava
Noriko and Chava show off pears gleaned during a volunteer shift
Q: How did you find out about Feeding San Diego? How often do you come in?
Norko: I started at other organizations around the city, but then found out about Feeding San Diego through a website and have been coming ever since. I then invited Chava (Salvador) beginning of last year, and we’ve been coming at least once a month!
Q: What made you decide to volunteer together versus doing it independently?
Noriko: For us, volunteering together is much more fun than doing it alone. Volunteering at Feeding San Diego is a unique and fulfilling experience that is an excellent alternative to your typical date night. The mission of Feeding San Diego is something we strongly support and has inspired us to want to add our grain of salt to a better tomorrow.
Q: Why do you want to donate your time to help those affected by food insecurity?
Noriko: There are many reasons to donate our time, but the main one is how many families experience food insecurity when it’s not a lack of food produced but an imperfect system. Feeding San Diego works with local farmers and stores to donate viable food and give any spoiled produce to farmers to give to the livestock. Feeding San Diego touches on so many aspects that we care about, giving families nutritious food, decreasing food waste, and sustainability.
Q: How has volunteering as a couple strengthened your relationship?
While volunteering, we discuss things we wouldn’t usually bring up in regular conversations. Such as farming, water resources, political climate, and other things that are generated because of the environment we’re in. Volunteering is also a group effort, so we work as a team, carrying heavy products or strategizing how to fit goods in a box.
Q: What’s your favorite experience together while volunteering at Feeding San Diego?
I think the ability to share this opportunity with our loved ones is important. We’ve brought our moms to volunteer, and Chava is planning a visit with his coworkers. Feeding San Diego is now a part of our relationship and something we hope to keep doing forever!
Q: How else do you spread love in San Diego besides volunteering?
We enjoy going to our local farmer’s markets to support our community.
Couple #4: Dan and Mina
Mina and Dan smile while gleaning tomatoes
Q: How did you find out about Feeding San Diego?
Dan: I did a web search for volunteer opportunities close by. Last Tuesday was only our second time volunteering, but we are going to come in weekly.
Q: What made you decide to volunteer together versus doing it independently?
Dan: We enjoy each other’s company. We’re lucky.
Q: Why do you want to donate your time to helping those affected by food insecurity?
Dan: There are so many important causes out there. Food is a basic need before all others.
Q: How has volunteering as a couple strengthened your relationship?
Dan: Well, it has not ruined it. It is nice to interact in a different setting, with others, with new challenges.
Q: What’s been your favorite experience together so far while volunteering at Feeding San Diego?
Dan: Feeding San Diego is so organized. You are at work in minutes. Feels like your time is valued rather than a burden to the full-time staff. The staff is very friendly.
Q: How else do you spread love in San Diego besides volunteering?
Dan: We are so lucky not to have to worry about basic needs like food and shelter. Lucky to be healthy and have each other. Lucky to be in San Diego. We just want to share this luck, in some way, for those less fortunate.
Couple #5: Laura and Shad
Shad and Laura recently relocated to San Diego from Dallas thanks to the flexibility of remote work, and they enjoy watching sports and volunteering in their spare time.
Shad and Laura pose with onions gleaned during their volunteer shift
Q: How did you find out about Feeding San Diego? How often do you come in?
Laura: We moved to San Diego at the end of last year and found Feeding San Diego online as we were searching for ways to plug into our new community. We have been trying to come out for a shift every week since!
Q: What made you decide to volunteer together versus doing it independently?
Giving back is something that’s important to both of us, plus everything is more fun together!
Q: Why do you want to donate your time to helping those affected by food insecurity?
Shad: Having nutritious food to eat is a basic human right—without it, everything else is a struggle—from health to housing, education to employment. We have volunteered separately at pantries in Laguna Beach and Dallas in the past. And so we are happy to have found a way to volunteer together now to help get healthy and fresh food to people who need it in our new community.
Q: How has volunteering as a couple strengthened your relationship?
Shad: It is something we can look forward to doing together every week, and it feels good to share a common purpose and work on a project together.
Q: What’s been your favorite experience together so far while volunteering at Feeding San Diego?
The best part is hearing about the impact to the community and where the food will be distributed. Whether we are packing 3,000 bags of onions for a drive-through distribution or 4,000 pounds of apples for school pantries—in just one shift—it really makes the work worthwhile to think about that food going out and providing fresh ingredients for the community.
Q: How else do you spread love in San Diego besides volunteering? How do you make sure you’re living in love and kindness?
We are still settling into San Diego life but have found a few ways to connect and bond with our community here through the East Village Doers neighborhood group, yoga classes at a nearby studio, and countless runs + walks to explore everything the city has to offer (we LOVE the Tuna Harbor Dockside Market). We have so much gratitude for the beauty of the area and how welcoming people have been. And in the Spring, we are looking forward to embracing and spreading our love of sports by cheering on the San Diego Padres and San Diego Wave FC!
Enjoy the Benefits of Volunteering as a Couple
Sign up for a volunteer shift with your special someone and enjoy the closeness of volunteering as a couple.
