Last year, COVID presented additional challenges to many families and individuals who did not have food security. This year, Technomics employee-owners embarked upon another Annual Food Drive to help make an impact in local communities. With team members returning to and consistently in the office, the Technomics Annual Food Drive took a hybrid approach towards supporting and providing meals to local families and individuals. Employee-owners wanted to raise funds online again and bring back the tradition of collecting non-perishables in the office. We set out to see how much we could raise and collect starting on November 1st and concluded our food drive on November 19th – a short time-span to make as much of an impact as possible in time for Thanksgiving.

We chose to raise funds online through Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB) with a goal of $2,500. We ended up exceeding our goal, in Technomics fashion, and raised $6,790 via online donations alone! Capital Area Food Bank partners with over 450 non-profit organizations in DC and the surrounding area. Together, they provide 30 million meals to almost half a million area residents every year. CAFB also works to address the root causes of hunger through multiple education programs and innovative service delivery partnerships. CAFB evaluates that every $1 can provide up to 2 meals and that means Technomics was able to help provide nearly 13,500 meals to support those in need!

“We as Technomicians, will always work together to gather the resources to ensure that no one should ever go hungry. This contribution is through money raised through family & friends. God bless!”

- Anonymous Donor

In addition to the online donations to support CAFB, Technomics employee-owners also set up donation boxes around the office to collect non-perishables to donate to Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC). Technomics has worked with AFAC in the past to provide meals, but we had to change-up our approach last year due to the pandemic.

Throughout the three weeks, we saw Technomicians bring in what they could. Some would be sure to grab a few extra items when they did their own grocery shopping, some would bring in items from their own pantries, and we even had some team members go to a local Costco during their lunch to grab a few extra donation items. In the end, we were able to accumulate 914 pounds for donations! AFAC evaluates a monetary value of $1.70 for every pound of food donated – in total that's nearly $1,553 in additional donations!

With all the collected items, the Annual Food Drive would not be complete without finishing the last leg to bring the items from our Crystal City headquarters to the AFAC Warehouse down the street in Shirlington, VA. A few of the Technomics employee-owner volunteers came together on a Saturday morning to load and transport all of the collected goods. When we arrived, we could see a line of local community members waiting for food distribution and knew that our donation, like many others, are helping families who struggle with food security.

When we set out, we weren’t entirely sure of how we would meet our goals for virtual donations or in-person donations, but we knew one thing was certain – Technomicians care about their neighbors and were ready to rise to the occasion. The Annual Food Drive is one event that many employee-owners are able to give back to a local community and ensure that we can have an impact against food insecurity. In the end, Technomics employee-owners were able to donate a total of $8,343 between online and in-person donations.

From our office (or home office), to you – we wish you a happy Thanksgiving and hope you too can make an impact.

 

References:

Capital Area Food Bank (CAFB) - https://give.capitalareafoodbank.org/campaign/capital-area-food-bank-virtual-food-drive/c295762

Technomics CAFB Donation page - https://give.capitalareafoodbank.org/team/390000

Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC) - https://afac.org/