Thank you to Boeing and it’s many employees for another year of supporting our community! We are grateful to recognize them as our May Corporate Donor of the Month.
Boeing has been a long-time partner of Food Lifeline, demonstrating their support to ending hunger in Western Washington through their annual Food & Essentials Drive, completing nearly 1,600 volunteer hours in 2019, as well as being the 2019 Dress Down Hunger Presenting Sponsor.
Prior to Food Lifeline canceling all volunteer shifts at our Hunger Solution Center and Mobile Food Pantries due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Boeing had already logged 140 hours with 56 team members. Boeing employee and volunteer, Rachel Gibson, “Volunteering with Food Lifeline is the most fun and rewarding experience. The most exciting part is at the end of a volunteer session the team tells you how many individual lives you helped provide food for. From volunteering to witnessing the Food Lifeline shopping cart at the Seattle Costco- Food Lifeline truly makes a difference and cares about solving hunger within the Puget Sound communities.”
Each spring, Boeing employees throughout the Puget Sound organize and participate in the Food & Essentials Drive to help support local food banks. This year, the drive was more important than ever. “Our city has been at the epicenter of one of the scariest and most unexpected times our country has faced in recent years,” said Laura Noble, who stepped up to be Renton’s site lead for Food & Essentials this year.
During this year’s Food & Essentials Drive, Boeing raised a staggering $402,476 in employee contributions and Boeing gift matches to support local food banks, twice the amount raised in 2019. Of that total, $114,490 was designated to Food Lifeline. “Working on the Food & Essentials Drive served as a reminder of just how generous Boeing employees truly are. We doubled our contributions from last year’s drive. The impact and awareness of COVID-19 on struggling families inspired our employees to give back and make a difference during these challenging times,” says Colette Ogle, Boeing Community Investor.
Not only did Boeing and its employees raise valuable funds for food banks during the Food & Essentials Drive, Food Lifeline was the recipient of a very generous grant the following month. The Employees Community Fund of Boeing, also known as ECF, is an employee-owned and managed charitable giving program that was created in 1951 by a group of Boeing employees who wanted to combine their giving for greater impact. The ECF stepped up huge in April as the COVID-19 pandemic continued to impact the financial wellbeing of Western Washingtonians, resulting in furloughs, reduced job hours, and job loss. Amidst the uncertainty, the ECF donated $375,000 towards Food Lifeline’s COVID-19 response. Since its’ creation, Boeing employees have contributed over $630,000,000 to Puget Sound Nonprofits! Over the years, the Employees Community Fund has granted $1.3M to Food Lifeline.
We are tremendously grateful for our partnership with Boeing and everything they do to help us end hunger in our community!
