FAMI Serves!
Giving back to our communities is nothing new at Farmers Alliance. There is a strong history of philanthropy and community support, and that spirit continues to grow. Recently, the company gathered all employees for the 2022 FAMI-ly REUNION – an event focused on celebrating company successes over the past two years, and the first in-person all-employee event since late 2019.
As evidence of Farmers Alliance’s commitment to giving back, a key activity during the Reunion event was an all-employee service project. Working in two teams, company staff assembled 100 Welcome Backpacks, full of supplies for refugees, and 144 Clean-up Buckets, packed with disaster relief supplies.
The Welcome Backpacks were coordinated through Church World Service and will go to refugees who flee their homes for a safer location without many of the necessities. Backpacks include a blanket, pens, paper, crayons and a coloring book, healthy snacks, and personal hygiene items like a toothbrush and toothpaste, a hairbrush, deodorant, hand sanitizer, masks, and more. All is packed into a new 17” backpack. Church World Service distributes these to various locations, as the needs are identified.
Clean-Up Kits (buckets) are distributed through Convoy of Hope, based in Springfield, Missouri. The Clean-Up Kits are part of their Disaster Services response, helping victims of floods, fires, earthquakes, tornados, or other natural disasters, throughout the world. Each of the five-gallon buckets (with a secure lid) includes cleaning and sanitizing supplies, along with gloves, masks, trash bags, paper towels, and sponges.
The packing list for these service projects was quite lengthy and costly. Farmers Alliance purchased many of the items for the project but received assistance from several of our vendor partners. Special thanks to Premier Food Service, Brady Industries, and Cintas for generously donating many of the items needed, and for helping us to acquire other items at a reduced cost. Through this project, our Farmers Alliance “FAMI-ly” expanded to include these key vendors, and we are all very grateful!
At the 2022 FAMI-ly REUNION, the 100 backpacks and 144 buckets were packed in record time, in sweltering temperatures, all with great attitudes and teamwork. The Farmers Alliance “FAMI-ly” cares about our communities and those we serve, and that caring spirit was definitely on display during the Reunion.
Learn more about Church World Service or Convoy of Hope, and see how you can help!