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Dozens of volunteers lend a hand at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Dozens of volunteers lend a hand at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Terri Johnson, president and CEO of Greater Midland, helps to package donated food items before they are distributed in a food drive Monday at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest in Saginaw. Dozens of volunteers helped out as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day.

Retired LPGA star and Dow ambassador Suzann Pettersen helps to prepare chocolate chip cookies during an afternoon of volunteering at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

From left, Tom Abbott of the Golf Channel, LPGA player Katherine Kirk, Karen S. Carter, chief human resources officer and chief inclusion officer at Dow, Daniel Futter, chief commercial officer at Dow, retired LPGA player and Dow ambassador Suzan Pettersen, and Chris Chandler, executive director of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, participate in a panel discussion during Dow GLBI Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 at the East Side Soup Kitchen in Saginaw.

Dozens of volunteers lend a hand at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Retired LPGA player and Dow ambassador Suzan Pettersen speaks during Dow GLBI Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 at the East Side Soup Kitchen in Saginaw.

Dozens of volunteers lend a hand at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Chris Chandler, executive director of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, speaks during Dow GLBI Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 at the East Side Soup Kitchen in Saginaw.

Tom Abbott of the Golf Channel, right, helps to prepare chocolate chip cookies during an afternoon of volunteering at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Tom Abbott of the Golf Channel moderates a panel discussion during the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

LPGA golfer Katherine Kirk, right, helps to prepare chocolate chip cookies during an afternoon of volunteering at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

LPGA player Katherine Kirkis introduced during Dow GLBI Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 at the East Side Soup Kitchen in Saginaw.

Dozens of volunteers lend a hand at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Retired LPGA star and Dow ambassador Suzann Pettersen helps to prepare chocolate chip cookies during an afternoon of volunteering at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Karen S. Carter, chief human resources officer and chief inclusion officer at Dow speaks during Dow GLBI Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 at the East Side Soup Kitchen in Saginaw.

Daniel Futter, chief commercial officer at Dow, speaks during Dow GLBI Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 at the East Side Soup Kitchen in Saginaw.

Dozens of volunteers lend a hand at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Dozens of volunteers lend a hand at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Dozens of volunteers lend a hand at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Retired LPGA star and Dow ambassador Suzann Pettersen, center, and Tom Abbott of the Golf Channel, right, prepare chocolate chip cookies during an afternoon of volunteering at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Dozens of volunteers lend a hand at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Volunteers prepare boxes of donated food items at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Dozens of volunteers lend a hand at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Dozens of volunteers lend a hand at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Guests listen to a panel discussion during the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Dozens of volunteers lend a hand at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Guests listen to a panel discussion during the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Dozens of volunteers lend a hand at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

Dozens of volunteers lend a hand at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest as part of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

From left, Tom Abbott of the Golf Channel, LPGA player Katherine Kirk, Karen S. Carter, chief human resources officer and chief inclusion officer at Dow, Daniel Futter, chief commercial officer at Dow, retired LPGA player and Dow ambassador Suzan Pettersen, and Chris Chandler, executive director of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, participate in a panel discussion during Dow GLBI Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 at the East Side Soup Kitchen in Saginaw.

Tom Abbott of the Golf Channel moderates a panel discussion during the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational Media Day Monday, June 13, 2022 in Saginaw.

After an hour of gathering the latest news on the upcoming Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, I swapped my editor/reporter's hat for a volunteer hat on Monday afternoon and joined about 100 other people working at the East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest on East Genesee in Saginaw.

For a good three hours, a steady stream of cars came through the parking lot to pick up food as volunteers worked in an assembly line to get everything prepared. While three of us prepared donated cardboard boxes and reinforced the bottoms of the boxes, other volunteers loaded the boxes onto a manual conveyor belt and loaded them with bottles of water, cereal, fresh fruit, and other foods to be loaded into each family's car.

Volunteers spanned the spectrum – from Dow employees to those from Midland Public Schools, Saginaw Valley State University, members of the media, and even LPGA golfers Katherine Kirk and Suzann Pettersen.

For Dow GLBI Tournament Director Wendy Traschen, the volunteer effort represented the spirit of the annual event, which each year designates 36 non-profit organizations over a four-county region as beneficiaries of the Dow GLBI.

"One of the big key initiatives that we do is the charitable giveback program," Traschen said. "Hidden Harvest has been a key part of the Dow GLBI. They have talked to us about food insecurity and how it's at an all-time high in our region. Last year, they took over 4,000 pounds of food from our event that hadn't been touched. They picked that up every night and distributed it throughout the region. We've got a great partnership with them. They work side by side with the East Side Soup Kitchen."

In short, doing work like what was done on Monday is a no-brainer.

"When you listen to the fact that 800 people a day come into the East Side Soup Kitchen for food, that's just unbelievable," Traschen said. "So many people are dealing with hunger. I was very proud of how yesterday went. They (East Side Soup Kitchen and Hidden Harvest) were thrilled to have the (attention). ... We want to continue to do do more of that type of thing."

Personally, I don't take the time to do a lot of volunteering. I was glad to have the chance to help out, even if I got a little sunburned in the process. 

And it was cool to see people unite behind the cause of alleviating hunger in the Great Lakes Bay Region and to see the spotlight of a major sporting event being harnessed for the greater good.

Volunteer opportunities abound in our community and our region. If you're looking for ways to help, just one avenue for finding opportunities is at https://www.volunteerglbr.org/

Dan Chalk is managing editor of the Daily News and can be reached at chalk@mdn.net

Dan Chalk was born in Midland and graduated from Midland High School in 1989 and from Adrian College in 1994. He had a six-year teaching career both overseas in the Peace Corps and in Michigan, which overlapped slightly with his journalism career. He has worked for the Midland Daily News since 1998.