Sandia partners with other DOE labs to combat food insecurity

For students, summer offers a welcome respite from classes, tests and homework. However, food insecurity does not take school breaks, causing many food banks to experience summer as a season of low monetary donations and few volunteers.

To promote support for local food banks during their time of need, Sandia joined forces this year with the other DOE national laboratories in the San Francisco Bay Area: Berkeley Lab, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

With this partnership, known as the Bay Area Charitable Giving Initiative, each lab dedicated a month of activities to help combat food insecurity throughout the region.

Alameda County Community Food Bank volunteer event

Sandia/California kicked off the charity initiative on July 8 at Alameda County Community Food Bank. A group of 16 hardworking volunteers helped package food items for distribution and sorted through bins of fresh apples and plums. In total, the volunteers helped prepare more than 12,000 pounds of food, the equivalent of about 10,230 meals, for distribution to individuals and families in need.

Before wrapping up the event, Sandia presented a $12,000 check from the Labs’ corporate contributions program. The donation will support continued food nourishment operations at Alameda County Community Food Bank.

Fertile GroundWorks community garden

On July 26, the Community Involvement team visited the Fertile GroundWorks garden in Livermore. The garden was blooming with a variety of ready-to-harvest crops, including fresh cucumbers that Sandia volunteers helped plant during a spring Sandia Serves volunteering event.

During the visit, Fertile GroundWorks President Teresa Win and Executive Director Brenda Kusler were presented with a $10,000 check from Sandia to continue supporting their mission to grow and distribute more than 20,000 pounds of fresh produce for local communities each year.

One Nation Dream Makers healthy breakfast food drive

Sandia’s activities for the Bay Area Charitable Giving Initiative culminated with a Bay Area Healthy Breakfast Food Drive to support Livermore nonprofit One Nation Dream Makers on July 28 and 29.

“The need for food support is higher than ever in our communities,” said Ronnie Forbes, the founder of One Nation Dream Makers. “We are excited to grow our partnerships with organizations like Sandia National Laboratories to expand how we can support our local communities.”

“Sandia is proud to support organizations like One Nation Dream Makers, Fertile GroundWorks and Alameda County Community Food Bank that work year-round to collect quality food items to deliver meals to local food pantries and local community members’ homes,” said Michelle Walker-Wade, the community relations specialist for Sandia/California.

Although the Bay Area Charitable Giving Initiative ended in July, Sandia continues its commitment to supporting the family stability and educational success of local community members throughout the year by offering corporate contribution grant cycles for local nonprofits and opportunities to volunteer.

To learn more about these opportunities and how you can participate, visit Sandia’s Community Involvement webpage.