Community Corner

North Fulton Hospital Challenges Verizon to Food Drive Competition

The hospital's annual "Race to Feed the Need" begins this week.

annual "Race to Feed the Need" food drive has a new twist this year - a challenge to see which organization can collect the most food: the hospital or the local employees of . 

Until now, the hospital has kept the food drive competition in-house, dividing its own employees into teams against each other. But this year they're issuing a challenge for Verizon Wireless in Alpharetta to join the cause.

According to Joanna Stotter, marketing coordinator for the hospital, the hospital approached Verizon at the recommendation of Vonda Malbrough, the development director for North Fulton Community Charities. The company was thought to be a well matched challenger because of its large size and because it's an active member of the community. 

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"We decided to expand the food drive to include another organization because we've found that competition yields great results," said Stotter. "If our internal competition has been so successful, how much better could we all do if our entire organization banded together to win against another? The thoughts is that the employee morale will increase and we'll be able to compile even more non-perishables and monetary donations going this route." 

The challenge will test which company can collect the most weight in pounds of non-perishable items as well as monetary donations for  

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The local charity can really use the donations considering it assists more than 5,000 local North Fulton families per year. And quite a bit of that demand for assistance from the food pantry comes during the summer - when children are home from school.

"With 18 percent of our students on free and reduce lunch, our pantry must supplement both breakfast and lunch for families who will not be able to support this need," Malbrough said.

However, for the exact same reasons that the demand increases, with school out and more families on vacation, the donations to the food pantry tend to decrease. That's why the hospital and Verizon Wireless have banded together to restock the food pantry's shelves.

"Last year’s drive provided our pantry with 6,000 pounds of food and additional financial resources allowed them to donate a total of 18,000 pounds," said Malbrough, noting that North Fulton staff also volunteers at the charity once a month.

All North Fulton Hospital and Verizon Wireless Alpharetta Campus employees have been encouraged to participate in the drive.

Not an employee of North Fulton Hospital or Verizon? Don't worry, you can still help local residents in need by making your own donations to the food pantry. The Greater North Fulton Chamber of Commerce will host a community-wide food drive to support the pantry from June 13-17. But, if you don't want to wait, the pantry is always in need of non-perishable food items, toiletries, baby products, paper products, cleaning supplies and food vouchers. For a complete list of items you can donate, visit them online.


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