Shire Shared 41 Tons
Shire Shared 41 Tons
Throughout November, Shire Massachusetts joined together to help ease the serious issue of food insecurity and hunger among families in need. Research shows that 1 in 9 people – and 1 in 4 children – in Massachusetts are affected by hunger. This crisis extends beyond the impoverished; the struggling economy has many middle-class families now unable to access basic, healthy food.
These facts inspired the third annual Shire Shares a Ton food drive, which benefits families across Massachusetts —and served by the Greater Boston Food Bank. Just one of Shire Massachusetts’ annual charitable initiatives, this year’s Shire Shares a Ton effort took a big step forward. Not only was a friendly competition amongst all of Shire’s Massachusetts buildings introduced, but a “Virtual Drive” was launched. This allowed employees to donate dollars online, above and beyond the physical food items they were encouraged to drop off at collection boxes spread throughout our Massachusetts sites. The result: our colleagues came together to donate41 tons of food to the Greater Boston Food Bank — enough for 62,984 meals for families across the state.
To celebrate the results, Bill Ciambrone, Senior Vice President of Technical Operations, Carrie Clarke, and Adrienne Zak of the Greater Boston Food Bank joined Shire employees for a “take a break” session commending employees for their spirit and passion. Bill emphasised that this particular drive makes Shire unique since it is employee-driven and not a traditional, corporate donation. In addition, Carrie Clarke, Manager of Corporate Relations at the Greater Boston Food Bank, exclaimed that Shire Shares a Ton kicked off at a time of great need. ”This drive happened when Hurricane Sandy struck and simultaneously was on top of our busiest distribution month of the year, Thanksgiving,” said Carrie. “The money raised helped us respond to our sister food banks in Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey and filled an entire tractor-trailer, and then some, with food. Roughly $25,000 worth. Thank you.”
This year’s Shire Shares a Ton empowered our Massachusetts locations to go the extra mile, and the results were simply incredible. A special congratulations goes to the Alewife team for contributing the most to the drive and winning the building competition – they will no doubt be back in 2013 to defend their title and trophy.