> Most always need volunteers. Depending on the place, it can either be more effective to donate money or food.
It should be noted that some charities are drowning in unskilled labour, and that folks shouldn't take it personally if they're turned away. Help in some other way, like you say, with money or food.
A friend of mine offered to volunteer at a nearby charity and was miffed that they turned her away since she had no management experience; they had plenty of hands, but really needed folks with organisational skills to manage them.
Yeah, food pantries especially are bespoke operations, and you really just have to find one near you and talk to them to find out what they want or need. Some will be territorial and not want non-eg-church-members volunteering, others will be thrilled to have community involvement. Some won't need volunteers for distribution, but will be glad to have younger labor to help with food pickup - picking up a literal ton of food and carrying it up stairs is a lot of work. Some places might not need help right now but will in a different season, as volunteer schedules change. They might also need help of varieties beyond the obvious - management, like you said, or accounting or network-building (eg, finding other sources of donations, like groceries or farm co-ops) or web development/social media management.
Even if they don't need more volunteers on the regular, most places won't mind if you join a couple of shifts, just to get a feel for how they operate.
Ultimately, you just have to find a place and start talking.
Money, if possible. Food banks can turn money into food more efficiently than you or me. If you are interested in donating food, consider donating 'high value' food such as a case of peanut butter: especially families with hungry children will value peanut butter as a food shelf item. It's typically rationed.
It should be noted that some charities are drowning in unskilled labour, and that folks shouldn't take it personally if they're turned away. Help in some other way, like you say, with money or food.
A friend of mine offered to volunteer at a nearby charity and was miffed that they turned her away since she had no management experience; they had plenty of hands, but really needed folks with organisational skills to manage them.