Volunteers needed during the holidays

AUSTIN (KXAN) - This time of year so many people think about ways they can give back to their community.

One way is through volunteering- and there are lots of organizations that need help.

"I usually come Tuesday mornings it's sort of our regular day to come," said Robert Bluethman, Capital Area Food Bank Volunteer.

Bluethman spends three hours every Tuesday inside the Capital Area Food Bank helping sort food.

"I had given donations but had never really seen what the production was," said Bluethman.

After retirement he decided to give back by volunteering some of his time-and it's needed.

"They have relatively few permanent employees so without the volunteers the food sorting and cleaning and so forth just could not be done," said Bluethman.

In fact the food bank has 13,000 volunteers every year to help get donations sorted, into boxes, and shipped off to the food pantries that rely on their supplies. But that's not all volunteers do.

"They work on our mobile pantries, they work in our other client points of contact - the East Austin Service Center and an agency in Pflugerville so we can keep them pretty busy," said David Davenport, President and CEO of the Capital Area Food Bank.

And while the holidays tend to lend itself to more people willing to donate their time - the food bank needs it since they have shattered their distribution record seven times this year alone.

"As that continues to go up and the challenges become even greater our need for volunteers in our community is going to be even greater," said Davenport.

To find a non-profit that is looking for volunteers call T-X 211 for a list of agencies that need help.