National Volunteer Week: Plainfield High School Graduate Volunteers at Food Bank through AmeriCorps VISTA Program

April 21-27 is National Volunteer Week and Dan Sitton, 25, from Plainfield and a Plainfield High School graduate is volunteering with the Northern Illinois Food Bank as part of the AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America).  This is a national service program designed to fight domestic poverty and was founded in 1965 and incorporated into the AmeriCorps network of programs in 1993. 

Northern Illinois Food Bank is excited to participate in the program this year and has welcomed a total of eight VISTAS from the Chicagoland area, including Sitton, to its staff for a one-year term of service.  Each VISTA provides the equivalent of a full-time employee to Northern Illinois Food Bank’s staff. The AmeriCorps VISTA volunteers currently serving with Northern Illinois Food Bank are building capacity and awareness of the organization’s programs, services, network partners and hungry neighbors. VISTAs are based in each of Northern Illinois Food Bank’s four centers and helps support a 13-county service area.

Sitton specifically works at the food bank’s West Suburban Center in Geneva, Ill., and has been a vital participant in the organization’s success in so many ways.  Perhaps one of his greatest accomplishments was working on the food bank’s Mobile Pantry program to update and streamline processes.  As a result, he created an online ordering and reporting for mobile pantries and updated the manual.

For more information about Northern Illinois Food Bank, visit:  www.solvehungertoday.org.