On June 17th, ten employees from the CVI Doylestown office volunteered at the 4th annual Bucks Knocks Out Hunger sponsored by United Way. Hundreds of volunteers from a variety of business sponsors, churches, and other area organizations assembled nutritious meals that will go to 27 area food pantries and 6 senior centers. One in ten residents and 16% of all children in Bucks County are considered food insecure.
The CVI team suited up with gloves, hair nets, and even beard nets and quickly got to work at their table packing meals. Mary Pacell started the line by setting up bags and monitoring all the ingredients for each packet. The assembly line included Justin Bowers, Cassie Galster, Tim Brooks, and Brent Alwood. Each bag was filled with a nutrition supplement, vegetables, pasta, beans, and rice.
After the bags were filled, each was weighed carefully by Leslie Morgan and Jim Jordan to make sure the amount of food was accurate. Next, Evan O’Donnell and Michelina Jones sealed each bag, and finally, Eric Nitschke managed the packing of the meals in boxes. The CVI team completed 11 boxes and packaged 1,650 individual meals in under two hours! Collectively, all volunteers packed 110,000 meals throughout the day.
Everybody worked fast and efficiently and had a great time. The room was full of energy as the DJ played tunes to cheer us on. Our own Brent got a shout out on Twitter from United Way to celebrate his birthday. Everyone at United Way was extremely supportive and helpful.
Through partnerships with Delaware Valley University’s, Hope of the Harvest, and Rolling Hill Harvest Food Rescue, fresh, local produce will also be delivered to area food pantries. Funds raised from BKO Hunger are also dispersed to pantries to purchase perishable items, such as milk, eggs, and meats.
While this year’s campaign has gotten off to a solid start by raising $60,000, United Way is still short of its BKO 2016 fundraising goal of $70,000. To make a donation, visit Bucks Knocks Out Hunger.
