HUD's Feds Feed Families During the "Warm Up to Giving" Campaign

Operations Specialist Reggie Robinson (right) delivered the food donated by Omaha HUD employees to Pastor Selwin Bachus of the Salem Baptist Church.

As the 2009 summer came to a close, HUD's field offices in Region VII (KS, MO, IA, NE) enthusiastically participated in the national federal agency “Warm Up to Giving” Food Drive. The Drive, held from June through August, encouraged all employees to help the nation’s food banks during a time of severe shortages Given the number of HUD staff in each field office, contributions across the Region were wonderful:

Contributions Per Office

Consequently, food banks throughout the Region were able to serve hungry children and families just as summer is leaving more children without school nutrition programs. At a recent visit to a food bank in the Washington DC area, the first lady, Michelle Obama, highlighted the importance of non-partisan public service to address public problems such as childhood hunger and the opportunity that each person has to make a real difference in their community. The following food banks and the communities they serve were directly benefited by the kind donations of food made by Region VII employees: the Food Bank of Iowa, Des Moines, IA; Multi-Purpose Center of Wyandotte County in Kansas City, KS; Salem Baptist Church in Omaha, NE; and Operation Food Search, in St. Louis, MO.

HUD's Deputy Regional Director Eugene Lipscomb expressed his thanks to each individual that donated to and worked on the Food Drive. "HUD's employees stepped forward to serve the disadvantaged in their community during the
Warm Up to Giving food drive. The food drive organizers and donors did a wonderful job of demonstrating their HUD spirit." In particular, the St. Louis HUD office did an especially impressive job gathering almost half of the entire Region's food donations. By sending out regular, encouraging emails to employees, Administrative Officer, Joan
Reuter, tapped into the generousity of HUD's St. Louis staff and helped the office gather a whopping 632 pounds of food. According to Joan, "Little challenges [like the last minute push which gathered 163 pounds of food in one day] got people stirred up."

For more information visit the "Warm Up to Giving" Food Drive website (http://www.fedsfeedfamilies.gov).