St. Mary's Food Bank
Employees from three different HomeStreet locations in the Phoenix area volunteered together at St. Mary’s Food Bank Alliance. Over the course of two hours, employees repacked bulk food donations into individual meal boxes for large families (4 or more members). Overall, the group packed enough meals to feed over 1,200 families. It would take one person a full work week to make that same kind of impact.
On any given day, St. Mary’s is able to provide over 250,000 meals to folks in Arizona. “Without our volunteers,” says Sean Vahldiek, Volunteer Engagement Specialist at St. Mary’s, “we would have to hire 150 additional employees. All donations we receive are used in every different way possible to make sure we can support those in need.”
HomeStreet in the Phoenix Community
Karen Myers, an Underwriting Manager at HomeStreet’s Phoenix Fulfillment Center was surprised to learn how many meals the organization provides to hungry families in the state on a daily basis. “That number makes you think. I’ve lived here in the valley for 30+ years, and I never realized there were that many people in our community going hungry every day.” The employees had glowing reviews of how well the project was set up by staff. Karen hopes to get a larger group next time, “I want to do this again as a team building project with more people!”
The group volunteered on a Friday afternoon, which gave the employees an opportunity to use a few of their 8 hours of Paid Volunteer Time. To honor the large group’s time volunteering together to meet the basic needs of their neighbors, HomeStreet made a $500 donation to St. Mary’s on their behalf. With the organization’s partnerships, they were able to turn that contribution into 3,500 meals.