Feed the People Kingston · December 2025 volunteer survey
The work behind the meals at Belle Park
Cooking is one part of a volunteer’s week at Feed the People. There are groceries to collect and meals to serve at the tent. Some volunteers store donated food in their own freezers. Others look after the schedule or ask friends to pitch in.
In August and September 2025, we asked volunteers to estimate what they had contributed between January and September. Thirty-four people completed the survey. The draft report, prepared in December, records their hours and the food, supplies and money they gave.
Every respondent had helped in at least two roles, and most had taken on three or more. Someone who cooks might also pick up donated food or help recruit another volunteer.
The responses cover a small part of Feed the People’s work. The report estimates that well over 200 people were volunteering or contributing through the wider network. The figures below come from those who answered the survey and should be read as estimates, rather than a full account of the organisation’s work.
From the survey
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34
volunteers completed the survey.
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356
hours in an average week, combined across volunteers who supplied weekly estimates.
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91%
of respondents gave goods or services without asking to be paid back.
The jobs volunteers take on
Cooking and serving were the most common roles, each reported by 59% of respondents. More than half gathered contributions from family and friends. Nearly half looked for deals and picked up food or supplies.
The work also included assembling food-service kits (35%), seeking cash donations (32%) and welcoming new volunteers (29%). Some respondents managed schedules, social media or accounting (24%); others helped with outreach and tech support.
The chart shows the five most common roles. Respondents could select several, so the percentages do not add up to 100%.
356 hours in a week
Volunteers who supplied weekly estimates reported a combined 356 hours in an average week. That includes time spent away from Belle Park, such as cooking at home and picking up supplies.
The report puts a dollar value on those hours using a rate of $17.60 an hour. At that rate, 356 hours is worth $6,265.60. If volunteers gave the same amount of time every week for 52 weeks, the annual value would be $325,811.20. This is a projection of donated time, not a measured total for 2025 or money the group received.
Occasional and one-time volunteers reported a further 106.25 hours between January and September, valued at $1,870 using the same rate. Those hours cover nine months, so they are kept separate from the annual projection.
These estimates help account for work that happens before anyone arrives at the tent. Grocery pickups and food preparation take time, just as serving a meal does. All of those hours are part of running the service.
What volunteers pay for themselves
Ninety-one per cent of respondents contributed goods or services without asking to be paid back. That included ingredients and fuel, as well as equipment and freezer space.
Respondents who could put a value on those contributions estimated $21,960 for the survey period. Contributions from people who could not estimate a dollar amount were left out of that figure.
Eleven respondents also gave money directly. Separately, organisers recorded $18,154 in cash donations from individuals and businesses between January and September 2025. That figure covers donations from the wider public, beyond the survey group.
Food and supplies from the Feed the People photo collection.
Asking others to help
Seventy-six per cent of respondents said they had brought other people into supporting Feed the People. Together, they estimated involving about 209 people through their personal and community contacts. The same person may have been counted by more than one respondent, so this is not a count of unique new volunteers.
The report identifies practical needs, too: more reliable access to food and supplies, and simpler ways to coordinate volunteers and record contributions. Those are useful priorities for a service that depends on people fitting this work around their own lives.
Thank you to everyone who took the time to answer the survey. If you would like to help with meals at Belle Park, see how to volunteer or make a donation.
About these figures
Source: FTP Kingston, Draft survey results, December 2025, a summary of the “Calculating the Value of Volunteering” survey. Figures are self-reported and percentages are rounded. The draft gives conflicting counts for the group reporting weekly hours; the 356-hour estimate is reproduced as reported. The $17.60 hourly rate is the report’s valuation benchmark.