M. Holland’s Half Day of Service

They came, they saw… they packed.

On September 11 and 12, Mployees from M. Holland’s Northbrook, Illinois, office took time away from their desks to volunteer at Feed My Starving Children in Libertyville, Illinois. Along with volunteers from other companies and neighborhood groups, they prepared soy- and rice-based “Manna Packs” by assembling the meals and bagging them. Other volunteers assisted by preparing bags for packaging, or by taking cartons of prepared meals and palletizing them in the warehouse.

Organized by M. Holland Community, the charitable volunteer group composed of Mployees across several departments within the organization, M. Holland’s “Half Day of Service” is now in its second year. Throughout the year, M. Holland Community arranges fundraising and collection activities for local schools, charities and shelters. “At M. Holland, we strongly support and encourage philanthropy, but understand that it is hard to make time in our busy schedules to volunteer,” said Patty Berman, director of human resources. “Our Half Day of Service provides Mployees with an opportunity to step away from their regular, day-to-day activities and work together to give back to those who are less fortunate.” This is the second year that M. Holland has partnered with Feed My Starving Children.

Founded in Minnesota in 1987, Feed My Starving Children is a non-profit organization that uses volunteer efforts to prepare and pack meals for malnourished children around the world. Ingredients for the meals are purchased with monetary donations and sent to locations including Haiti, the Philippines, Mexico and Africa. The charity reported that in 2017 alone, more than 1.2 million volunteers packed in excess of 333 million meals. Over the course of the two shifts, M. Holland volunteers packed 55,728 meals that would feed 151 children for one year.

Eric Corvera, buyer/planner at M. Holland, routinely volunteers at Feed My Starving Children with his family. For him, the importance of the work done in a two-hour shift goes beyond just packing food. “This hits home for me since the Philippines is one of the places served by Feed My Starving Children,” he said. “I try to visit family in the Philippines every two to three years, so I see first-hand the kind of poverty most people live in.”

The opportunity to serve the community goes beyond simply getting away from one’s desk for a few hours. “I enjoy volunteering for great causes and the rewarding feeling that comes from it,” said commercial coordinator Chelsea Davis. “The ‘reward’ is knowing that the short amount of time we dedicate to packing these meals positively impacts the quality of life for someone thousands of miles away.”

For more information about Feed My Starving Children, to make a monetary donation or to volunteer at a packing center near you, please visit the website.