"Hunger is sharper than the sword." - The Honest Man's Fortune, Act II
One of the things many people look forward to most during the holidays is the food. Thanksgiving turkeys, all kinds of baked goods given as Christmas gifts, candies, your grandma's mashed potatoes, the list could go on and on.
But, of course, not everyone is lucky enough to partake in the overindulgence many of us take for granted. According to FeedingAmerica.org, in 2015, "42.2 million Americans lived in food insecure households, including 29.1 million adults and 13.1 million children." And Oklahoma is one of the hungriest states in the nation, with statistically significantly higher household food-insecurity rates than the US national average. One in four children in Oklahoma struggles with hunger daily.
Today, eleven Heritage employees volunteered their morning to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma, which provides enough food to feed more than 116,000 people each week. We packed bags of food for the Backpack Program, one of the four programs in the Food Bank's Childhood Hunger Initiative. Through this program, chronically-hungry kids get backpacks "filled with non-perishable, nutritious, kid-friendly, shelf-stable food to sustain them over weekends and school holidays." This program has been a huge asset to schools AND students. Last year, the program provided food to 18,486 students in 514 schools. (See these stats and more in the Food Bank's Info Packet.)
It was a lot of fun (scroll for pictures!) and we're really proud of the stats we racked up. In the few hours we were there...
- We filled 271 boxes (at over 20lbs each!)
- Packed 5,474 pounds of food, which comes out to 4,562 meals
- Ensured that 1,626 kids will get a backpack full of food!
That's pretty awesome, especially considering that there were more volunteers coming in after us to pick up where we left off.
Here's our morning in pictures:
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- The whole gang
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- The Heritage crew on the assembly line
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- Filling bags for hungry kids
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- Julie L. and Annie on the assembly line
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- Annie and Elizabeth
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- Julie sends a silent plea for help as Curtis thrusts pretzels in her face
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- Denise excitedly dons a new hat after we pack our last box
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- KJ looks on as Curtis and Julie H. walk like Egyptians (the song was playing, promise!)
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- KJ and Curtis revel in a job well done!
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- Curtis raided the selfie station in the Volunteer Center
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- What’s hard work without a little hard play too?
It was a great way to start the day and we look forward to doing it again soon! See how you and your company or family can get involved in the fight against hunger here.
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