Food Service

Yesterday and today, portions of the HotSchedules team took turns putting in a few hours at the Capital Area Food Bank. If you've never done it, you should. Who knew sorting cans and frozen food could be so fun? I swear I'm not being sarcastic.

Here's how it worked: Each day, twenty or so of us went down to the Food Bank and got a brief description of what we needed to do. I was part of Shift 2 (today), so I can't speak for yesterday's crew...although, I did hear that they take the no open-toed shoe policy very seriously.

Anyway, we were assigned to frozen meat. Some of us sorted it, checked it for ickiness and then sent it down a conveyor to others who sorted it by type and boxed it up. Another group palletized it, got rid of the extra boxes and threw out the meat that didn’t pass the ick factor. 

After a short break, we did a quick clean-up, then switched to frozen bread and pastries. All in all, it took us maybe 2.5 hours and we managed to process enough food to create 5,500 meals. And that was just today’s group!  Amazing!  

What’s even more amazing is how much fun you get to have with colleagues you may not interact with on a daily basis. I got to sort with three co-workers I don’t get to talk to everyday and we joked and laughed and had a blast.

So, let’s see if I can sum up the advantages to our volunteer work:

• Do something good for the local community
• Get that warm fuzzy feeling for doing something good
• Skip work for a few hours
• Hang out with fun people and have a good time

Yep, that pretty much sums it up.  If your team, group or company doesn’t volunteer at the Food Bank, they should!!

Oh, and one more thing - the Food Bank is SUPER low on food!  Even if you don’t volunteer, grab a can or two or three off your shelf, or throw a few extra in your shopping cart and donate them.  Thank you!

HotSchedules: Giving Back!

More than ever before, this holiday season we at HotSchedules are so incredibly grateful for the friends and families who have supported our company and team.Not only is this a time we like to appreciate our blessings, the holidays are an opportunity for us to give back to those who haven’t been as fortunate.

This year our team at HotSchedules participated in The Capital Area Food Bank’s effort to feed the hungry. Friday, December 18^th over 20 HotSchedules’ employees volunteered at the Food Bank’s South Congress warehouse, and one afternoon later our team had distributed 18,028 pounds of food that provided for 14,351 meals. Volunteers at Capital Area have made this organization the most important source of food for its Partner Agencies, accounting for 76% of food for pantries and 38% for soup kitchens. HotSchedules’ Vice President David Cantu credits Rene Carlin, Volunteer Resources Manager, and the rest of the team at The Capital Area Food Bank in Austin, “These folks have a sincere compassion to serve others and a strong commitment to end hunger in Central Texas.  We're joining in and hope our efforts will have an impact for those that are less fortunate this holiday season.”

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