Have you heard of the Willing Hands Water Park? Our food bin washing area has been lovingly named the Water Park by its visitors, and it recently got an upgrade thanks to our volunteers, the Norwich Women’s Club, and the Utility Club of Lyme!
Willing Hands has nearly 1,000 red and black bins that move close to a million pounds of fresh food every year. They carry fresh food gathered from gardens and farms all over the Upper Valley to our 80 recipient organizations, which distribute it to the people who need it most in our community. Each bin is thoroughly washed before each journey.
Keeping these bins clean between deliveries is crucial to ensuring food stays fresh and arrives undamaged. Dedicated volunteers power wash each bin after every use. This spring, in response to volunteer feedback, we renovated the Water Park to enhance safety and efficiency. With generous support from the Norwich Women’s Club, the old wooden platforms were replaced with a gravel bed, and drainage was added.
Our revitalized Water Park also enables us to expand our bin collection. Thanks to a generous donation from the Utility Club of Lyme, we have added 140 more red bins to our food bin rotation. This lets Willing Hands glean and collect even more surplus food and ensure it will not lose quality en route to its final destination.
Thank you to the Norwich Women’s Club and the Utility Club of Lyme for making our volunteer wishes a reality. And a heartfelt thank you to our volunteers who responded to our 2024 volunteer survey, to the nine dedicated Water Park volunteers of 2024 (who contributed 227 hours of their time!), and to our 2025 Water Park volunteers who are already enjoying the upgraded space. We are deeply grateful to everyone who helps keep fresh produce flowing through our community!
This was originally published in the Willing Hands e-newsletter in June 2025.