Volunteer Spotlight: Darrick Buralli
This month we sat down with Darrick Buralli, who first visited Food Lifeline in 2020 when he was looking for a way to help during the pandemic. Now a member of the Production Corps, Darrick has contributed over 500 volunteer hours and comes in every Wednesday evening, even with a full time job. He enjoys the sense of fulfillment he gets from giving back, and the relationships he’s formed with volunteers and employees in the Food Lifeline Community. We’re grateful for Darrick’s commitment to our mission, and for all the energy and fun he brings to our team every week.
Darrick Buralli was living in South Park when the pandemic hit in 2020. Looking for a way to help, he realized there was a “huge food bank” right in the neighborhood. That food bank was Food Lifeline.
He volunteered a few times in the warehouse and discovered he enjoyed it. “It was just really fun,” he said. “Obviously there’s a baseline of seriousness, but no one took anything too seriously.”
He’s now been volunteering at Food Lifeline for over 5 years. Even with a regular job, he volunteers every Wednesday as part of the Production Corps, a core group of committed volunteers who come in regularly, working alongside Food Lifeline Production Coordinators on specialized tasks and assisting with volunteer sorts.
“I feel like there’s not a very typical day in Production Corps. I like the mystery of it since you don’t know what you’re going to do that day.”
Some days he’s washing bins in the back, other days he’s sorting through the foods from Stamp Out Hunger or helping with a volunteer sort. Working in tech, he appreciates the visceral, hands on labor of sorting fresh produce.
And knowing his efforts are helping to provide food for people in his community allows him to pay forward the help he has received throughout his life.
“I didn’t get here on my own,” he said.
“Knowing that I’m able to do something for someone else is really nice. And it’s such a small time commitment with such a big impact.”
He also loves seeing all the different groups come through. One of his very favorite memories was when the Kraken came in to volunteer a few years ago with their mascot, Buoy. It was a high energy day in the warehouse, with lots of chanting and fun.
“I get to meet a lot of people from a lot of different places.”
Regularly interacting with the other volunteers reminds him that, despite the news and social media, people are inherently good and want to help each other.
“I think people are good natured. And it’s a good reminder that everybody has that core.”
To those on the fence about volunteering he says, “Just do it. There is no hard commitment, so you can try it and see if you like it.”
The connections he’s developed with staff over the years are perhaps the very best part of volunteering.
“Everyone is just amazing and super fun. It’s hard to picture a week without them.”