Whitsons' Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week
The Enhancing Life™ Program continues to grow and offer more opportunities for location teams to connect with their communities to make a difference and fulfill our promise to treat everyone like family. This year, Whitsons is proud to have participated in Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, a new Enhancing Life Program initiative in support of an annual week of awareness and volunteering sponsored by the National Coalition for the Homeless and the National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness. Team members at multiple locations helped raise awareness and worked to combat hunger and homelessness through food drives, food rescue initiatives and volunteering in their communities.
Several Whitsons teams on Long Island combined their efforts to support the Long Island Cares annual “Adopt-A-Family” initiative, providing nourishing meals and hope to those facing hardships during the holiday season. The participating New York location teams – including East Meadow UFSD, Eastport-South Manor Central School District, Hauppauge Public Schools, Malverne UFSD and West Hempstead UFSD - collected and donated 21 fully completed meals to help feed families in need this Thanksgiving, as well as an additional two turkeys and 83 assorted non-perishable food items.
In Haverhill Public Schools, MA, the team prepared, packed and delivered over 200 nourishing holiday meals to those in need in their community. The team worked with the school district to identify families who may be experiencing homelessness or food insecurity to ensure students in need who they serve every day could enjoy a Thanksgiving meal with their families.
The team in Fall River Public Schools, MA continues to partner with Stop & Shop, operating an in-school food pantry for district families facing food insecurity for the last five years. The Whitsons team worked with managers from the local Stop & Shop to pack and deliver items for more than 300 families in need so they could have a Thanksgiving Day meal.
Cole Whaley, Regional Vice President of Sales, started a non-profit organization – Food For The Holidays – several years ago to provide food to families in need throughout the greater DC, MD and VA region four times a year around the holidays, including Thanksgiving. His organization has grown in a partnership with Whole Foods Market, which now donates food every Monday and Tuesday to feed hundreds of people weekly. This year, Food For The Holidays donated items for 35 full Thanksgiving meals to families in need to prepare and enjoy together, in addition to the weekly donations from Whole Foods Market that they continue make.
Additionally, 15 teams participated in the 2nd annual Coats for our Communities Drive, collecting and donating 538 coats to local non-profit organizations to help those experiencing hardships stay warm this winter in their communities (read more here).
Many thanks to all the teams who participated in Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week for making a positive difference in the communities we serve and embodying the Whitsons Way.™