North Texas Food Bank

Yesterday my company worked at the North Texas Food Bank, in South Dallas. In contrast to the Salvation Army day we had at Christmas; I really truly enjoyed this event. Before the actual volunteer day, we had a company wide food drive competition. In total, the employees of Remington donated $30,000 in cash and over 1,000 pounds of food! NTFB figures $1 makes 4 meals and 1.2 lbs equals 1 meal. THAT'S A LOT OF MEALS!!! (My team actually won the competition, so I get to wear jeans on Mondays in June, yipeeeee!) It actually makes me proud of my company. Even with all the cut backs and savings we complain about, the realization that we are far better off than many, really hit home. My department was even able to donated all the money we did not use by not going to the yearly Las Vegas convention, which equaled over 20,000 meals.
My team spent the day sorting donations from local grocery stores into boxes and boxes and more boxes. Basically, if CVS, Wal-Mart, Krogers, ect., has damaged cans, melted items, or "expired" food, they donate it all to the food bank. And like many of us already know, these items are still totally safe to consume. It was nice to get out from behind the computer and physically work. Although finding the random exploded mayonnaise jar was not my favorite part of the day. Another team put together backpacks of food for kiddos to take home on the weekends.
I must give kudos to the North Texas Food Bank though. They've been doing this for quite some time and have taken serious measures to make sure the right people are getting fed. And unlike so many other charities they are focused on their local community, rather than remote villages on multiple continents. If you get the chance, take a look at their website.