Making the Difference

Flagship Blog

Making the Difference

COVID-19 has left families throughout the country with increased food insecurity. While the light at the end of the tunnel is finally coming into view, the impact of the pandemic continues to affect the population in a variety of ways, such as a spike in grocery bills and a lack of community-based food drives, traditionally found in schools, at sporting events, and within corporate buildings.

Though food stockpiling and supply chain disruptions have lessened since February of this year, prices of fruits and vegetables have risen by an average of 2 percent, and the index for meats, poultry, fish, and eggs has risen by 0.4 percent.

This past May, in an effort to give back to the community and help those in need, Flagship hosted its first virtual Mid-Year Food Drive in support of Feeding America. Traditionally, this had been an in-office event within Flagship’s three locations. With the majority of associates continuing to work from home, team members had the opportunity to “shop” for their donations online to send directly to their site’s local Feeding America branch.

Associates in each of our three office areas were challenged to see which location could raise the most donations. The prize to the winning location was a $5,000 donation from Flagship to the winning site’s local Food Bank. This time around, the Food Bank of Delaware received Flagship’s $5,000 donation as the Chadds Ford, PA office ended the contest with the most donations, raising the equivalent of 3,012 pounds of food. Flagship’s Tempe, AZ office came in not too far behind with 2,495 pounds of food, while our Coppell, TX office finished with 1,035 pounds of food. The best part? St. Mary’s Food Bank received an additional $3,000 donation and the North Texas Food Bank received an additional $1,000 donation from Flagship, too!

Flagship presenting check to Food Bank of Delaware
From left: Ed Matarese, Food Sourcing Manager; Breanna Forgione, Communications Specialist; Larry Haas, Food Bank Development Director; Lea Cassar, Dealer Relationships Supervisor; Rachel Schwartz, Project Manager; and Jeff Haymore, Flagship President & COO.
Flagship presenting check to St. Marys Food Bank
From left: Kayla Lawson, Corporate Giving Officer of St. Mary’s Food Bank; Duane Robbins, Loan Servicing Director; and RaeLyn Rawlings, Human Resources Director.
Flagship presenting check to North Texas Food Bank
From left: Christie Blunt, Loan Servicing Director; Amanda Loud, Customer Service Supervisor; and Ashley Watkins, Major Gifts Officer of the North Texas Food Bank

In November of 2020, Flagship’s offices collectively raised 4,440 pounds of food, equating to about 3,700 meals, for Feeding America. That was a great number and was far exceeded last month. Thanks to the generosity of our associates, Flagship raised a total of 6,542 pounds of food, approximately 5,500 meals to feed people throughout our nation last month, making the Mid-Year Food Drive our most successful drive to date.