Food bank rewards volunteers with “pleasant” environment

The Second Harvest Food Bank of Clark, Champaign and Logan Counties in Ohio is a not-for-profit clearinghouse that collects, stores and distributes dry and frozen surplus food. To improve working conditions for volunteers, the company installed a fabric curtain wall that reduced noise and temperature variations in the warehouse.

Since 2001, the food bank’s volunteers have worked out of the organization’s 58,000-square-foot food storage facility alongside lift trucks, pallets, refrigeration units and trucks coming in and out with food. Last year, the food bank sourced more than six million pounds of food to the 90 soup kitchens, shelters and pantries it serves in western Ohio.

Volunteers endured loud noises and cold gusts from freezers and coolers, a problem worsened by the addition of a new cooler and a 40% expansion of the freezer space. Keith Williamson, executive director for Second Harvest in Springfield, wanted to establish a separate area for volunteers.

“I quickly learned that these curtain walls would be able to define and beautify the volunteer center work space, provide temperature separation, and buffer loud noises coming from the warehouse area,” Williamson says. “Before we put the curtain walls up, you were almost yelling to the volunteers just so they could hear you. Now, the environment is much more pleasant.”

The new curtain walls (Zoneworks by Rite-Hite, ritehite.com) are temporary walls constructed of fire-retardant industrial vinyl that is wrapped around anti-microbial polyester batting. The insulated walls can provide up to 40 degrees of temperature separation from one space to another and can reduce noise levels by up to 25 decibels. Three custom vinyl-strip doorways framed in the wall allow for easy access to the storage area—one for foot traffic and two for pallet jacks or forklifts.

“We really enjoy the temperature control, and we noticed the misting fan and box fan ran much less frequently last summer,” Williamson says. “It gets really hot here, and when your workers are volunteers, it is crucial to provide a hospitable work area.”