Here at Midwest Food Bank (MFB), we are always amazed and thankful for the amount of volunteers that walk through our doors. People from all walks of life donate their time and effort for our cause. While we see many families and ministries come to volunteer, we also receive a tremendous amount of service from community partnerships.
One of our community partners, Eaton's Cooper Lighting Division, does a fantastic job of going above and beyond in their volunteer efforts. Eaton employees come to the MFB warehouse in small groups three to four times a month to serve, and are active in cultivating the relationship between our two organizations.
In the past year, Eaton's Cooper Lighting Division employees have donated over 550 volunteer hours at Midwest Food Bank. Their efforts at MFB are so impactful that in the month of May, we brought the volunteerism to the Eaton warehouse.
May 11, we loaded our MFB trucks, giving Eaton employees an opportunity to volunteer at their home base in their own warehouse. We brought almost 175,000 items of food and supplies to repackage and sort, and Eaton employees filtered through in three shifts throughout the day to accomplish the job. The food items included snickers bars and granola bars to be processed for easy distribution to agencies, and supplies such as sunscreen and lip balm were also processed in the same fashion.
The first shift garnered 115 excited employees, ready to give their time and energy, while the second and third shifts gathered almost 60 Eaton employees each. By the end of the day, Eaton employees had successfully processed all of the items MFB brought to their stomping grounds.
Our community partners are so generous with their time and energy, and we are thankful for their efforts. Thank you, Eaton Corporation, for a great day of work at the office for MFB!