During the month of July and August, 2009, the Miami Sector, including Miami Headquarters, Dania Beach, Marathon, West Palm Beach, and Orlando Stations, donated 2386 pounds (an average of approximately 24 pounds per person) of food items for the National “Warm Up to Giving” Food Drive.
The White House-sponsored drive challenged government offices to raise 1 million pounds of food throughout the months of July and August to replenish supplies and meet the immediate needs of regional food banks.
Todd Bryant
As part of the DOT, the FAA Federal employees at the Eastern Region, located in Jamaica NY, along with FAA employees from Newark Airport Traffic Control Tower (ATCT) and Republic ATCT began the Feds Feed Families (FFF) Initiative in early July with a common goal and creative motto, “BE PART OF THE FUN, AS WE RAISE A TON (a ton of food that is)”. The FFF Team consisted of members from all Lines of Business. To provide some incentive, weekly opportunities to win gift cards for coffee, donuts or bagels were provided. And within the first four weeks we exceeded our goal by contributing over 2,000 pounds of food to the local food banks of New York.
We worked with two food banks, City Harvest (covered NYC) and Island Harvest (covered Long Island). In August, thinking that our co-workers would somehow reduce their food donations, especially with school only four weeks away, ASPIRE, the Federal Credit Union contributed some of their lime green polo shirts as incentive to continue making contributions. Well, by the time the program ended on August 31st the Federal employees of the FAA from the Eastern Region in Jamaica, Newark ATCT and Republic ATCT had contributed 5,128 pounds of food - over 2 tons!! What an accomplishment.
One Feds Feed Families volunteer commented that the FFF Food Drive has helped remind our employees that there is more to consider than just nutrition. Feeding is a powerful way to meet the basic needs of families in our immediate community who are trying to survive and while at the same time demonstrating the love we all have for those who are less fortunate than we are. Feeding families has offered all of us the opportunity to connect with families who are in need of a meal, but don’t have the resources available to them.
We were truly proud to be part of this monumental task of helping to feed Americans, one meal at a time, through the Feds Feed Families Initiative.
Cecil Claytor & Cynthia Gable
USDA-FSIS-OM-OCFO-FMD Financial Processing Center (FPC) employees held a food and personal care collection to participate in “Feds Feed Families.” Employees were asked to bring in specific, most needed food items (canned proteins, boxed dinners, soups, multi-grain cereal, spaghetti sauce) and most needed personal care items (toilet paper, shampoo, toothpaste, soap, diapers). Additionally, the two branch chiefs at the FPC upped the anty by challenging employees for every pound of food donated by their staff, the branch chiefs would donate $1 per pound of food collected.
Upon receipt of the donation, Food Bank workers commented on not just the quantity, but the quality of items donated, stating “A lot of people donate items that have been sitting at home that haven’t been used for a while, but it looks like your staff went out and bought specifically what is most needed.” We told the Food Bank that we had posted a list of most needed food and personal care items and that it was apparent that people had used the list to buy food and personal care items for this specific collection. Donating most needed food and personal care items drastically increases the ability to feed and care for families by providing nutritional, wholesome food and hard to come by personal care items.
A total of 634 most needed food and personal care items weighing 436 pounds was collected along with the matching $436 donated by the two branch chiefs. What an outstanding collection! Thank you to all who donated to this worthwhile endeavor sponsored by OPM and supported by USDA Secretary Vilsack.
Anita Holub
As part of the DOT, the FAA Federal employees at the Eastern Region, located in Jamaica NY, along with FAA employees from Newark ATCT and Republic ATCT began the Feds Feed Families (FFF) Initiative in early July with a common goal and creative motto, “BE PART OF THE FUN, AS WE RAISE A TON (a ton of food that is)”.
The FFF Team consisted of members from all Lines of Business. To provide some incentive, weekly opportunities to win gift cards for coffee, donuts or bagels were raffled. And within the first four weeks the facilities had exceeded their goal by contributing over 2,000 pounds of food to the local food banks of New York. We were working with two food banks, City Harvest (covering NYC) and Island Harvest (covering Long Island). In August, thinking that our co-workers would somehow reduce their food donations, especially with school only four weeks away, ASPIRE, the Federal Credit Union contributed some of their lime green polo shirts as incentive to continue making contributions. Well, by the time the program ended on August 31st the Federal employees of the FAA from the Eastern Region in Jamaica, Newark ATCT and Republic ATCT had contributed 5,128 pounds of food. This was truly a group effort, what an accomplishment!
One Feds Feed Families volunteer commented that the FFF Food Drive has helped remind our employees that there is more to consider than just nutrition. Feeding is a powerful way to connect with families in our immediate community who are trying to survive and meet the needs of their own families. Feds Feed Families has offered all of us the opportunity to meet the needs of some families through an outpouring of support through food donations, and a demonstration of love to those who are less fortunate than we are.
We were truly proud to have been part of this monumental task of helping to feed Americans, one meal at a time, through the Feds Feed Families Initiative.
Once again, we offer a Graet Big 'Thank You' to all that contributed in raising 5,128 pounds of food, that's twice as much as our initial goal of One Ton.
Cecil Claytor
With the cooler temperatures of fall hitting Northeastern Ohio, Cleveland VA Regional Office employees warmed the hearts of the local hungry under the “Warm Up to Giving” food drive. The office ended the summer by concluding its campaign to help a local food bank. In total, over 1,600 pounds of food were collected through both traditional and unique ways.
While traditional ways included food collection boxes located throughout the office, the Cleveland VA Regional Office thought outside the box to encourage donations. At the office’s annual summer outing in late August, each attendee was asked to donate a non-perishable food item. This successful family event not only was a chance for employees to gather in a fun-filled environment, but it also was a time to remember others in need through food donations. It was encouraging for all summer outing volunteers to see the generosity of co-workers and their families with the items collected.
In a further attempt to raise food donations, the Cleveland VA Regional Office’s Director, Joyce Cange, also provided a pizza party to the work team that donated the most food items. A group of 34 employees from the Cleveland VA Regional Loan Center collected 740 food items, over 400 items more than any other work team in the regional office. This earned the Regional Loan Center team a free lunch with the Director and bragging rights among the over 600 employees of the VA benefits office.
Such commitment to community service and a dedication to the “Warm Up to Giving” campaign, truly illustrate the warm hearts of Cleveland VA Regional Office employees.
-Falana Banks
Program Analyst, Cleveland VA Regional Loan Center and Summer Outing Volunteer
Cleveland VA Regional Office
Submitted by
Joyce Cange
The Miami Passport Agency is proud to have participated in the Feds Feed Families Food Drive. The campaign was a great success thanks to the great response from our employees. On August 27, 2009 the Miami Passport Agency delivered three large boxes of non perishable food items to The Daily Bread Food Bank in Miami, Florida.
The Daily Bread Food Bank is an agency devoted to fighting hunger in South Florida, it serves four counties (Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe). The Food Bank offers daily hot meals for needy children, working poor, single mothers, homeless individuals and families. The Daily Bread Food Bank also provides services to emergency centers, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, youth groups, and day cares. Our donations will help the Daily Bread Food Bank meet the high demands for food within our community. This food drive represents a small way in which we as federal employees can give back to the community where we live, work, and play. We look forward to participating in the next Feds Feed Families Campaign.
The San Francisco Passport Agency participated, as did the Northeast Passport Processing Center in New Hampshire. Moving overseas, the American Embassy in Hanoi held a food/clothing drive culminating in a visit and delivery of donated goods to an orphanage for children and adults with disabilities. On a smaller scale, a Washington office of Human Resource employees collected mens’ shoes and socks for Miriam’s Kitchen and shelter in Foggy Bottom.
Patricia Pittarelli
REVISED TOTALS for the National Archives, Central Plains Region, Kansas City, Missouri
288 pounds of food collected for Harvesters Food Bank - enough to provide 220 meals!
National Archives & Records Administration
We began collecting non-perishable food items here at the USDA-ARS, National Clonal Germplasm Repository in Davis, CA at the end of July and just dropped off our donations today.
We are a small unit and collected a box and several grocery bags full of donations, approximately 60lbs, thanks to the generosity of all our great staff and student assistants. We delivered our goods to Davis Community Meals, a local non-profit organization that provides low-income and homeless individuals and families with housing, food, and human services to help them rebuild their lives. The organization provides a Resource Center, Emergency Shelter and Transitional Housing Program, free meals, Supportive Housing Program, and Cold Weather Shelter.
We look forward to helping our neighbors in the community again this winter.
Michelle Robards
On September 1, Defense Contract Management Agency - Raytheon Tucson delivered an additional 214 pounds of employee donated food and supplies to the Tucson Area Community Food Bank. This is in addition to the 178 pounds delivered in August, for a total of 392 pounds of food.
Jack Zingg (John F. Zingg, Jr.)
The Roseburg District Bureau of Land Management HRDC (Human Resource Development Committee) put together a food drive in conjunction with the local Salvation Army.
The drive ran from July 12-24th. We put a little competitive edge on it and kept track of the amount donated by each of the two resource areas and the admin/support services folks. We ended up with a total of 763 pounds of food that we handed over to the local Salvation Army to distribute to local people and pets in need (Swiftwater RA=363 lbs, South River RA=233 lbs, Admin/SupServ=167 lbs).
HRDC was extremely excited and proud of the folks on District and these results! HRDC is hoping to do this periodically, especially during the non-holiday times of year when most people don't think about donating.
HRDC Chair
Katrina Krause