One thing we are grateful for this Thanksgiving is companies who encourage their employees to volunteer. During two days in October, Rockwell Collins employees attending conferences in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City participated in volunteer projects as part of a team building activity.
The company expressed an interest in helping local agencies fill a need in our community. Rockwell Collins sponsored the purchase of all items for both meal packaging and hygiene kit projects. Their goal was to help as many people in need as possible through preparing hygiene kits and packaging meals.
On Tuesday, October 24, Rockwell Collins held their Global Sales Meeting at the DoubleTree Hotel in Cedar Rapids. As part of their team building activity, 180 Rockwell Collins employee volunteers packaged 22,258 meals. Hawkeye Area Community Action Program (HACAP) will distribute these meals through their Food Reservoir to local food pantries and through their backpack program. In total, Rockwell Collins employees packaged 2,426 pounds of food—that is about 151 Thanksgiving turkeys!
On Thursday, October 26, Rockwell Collins held their Business Development Conference at Coralville Marriott. 187 Rockwell Collins employee volunteers assembled 1,600 hygiene kits that clients will receive at five local nonprofits: Foundation 2, Catherine McAuley Center, Waypoint, Willis Dady, and Area Substance Abuse Council (ASAC). These nonprofits give hygiene kits to clients in transitional housing and residential programs.
United Way of East Central Iowa staff coordinated the meal packing project with Rockwell Collins, the DoubleTree Hotel, and the Outreach Program. Our staff also worked with local nonprofits to determine hygiene kit needs, coordinate the event, and distribute the kits. Thank you to the employees at Rockwell Collins who volunteered and made a difference to those in need!
If your company would like to organize a volunteer event for your employees, United Way staff can help! Simply complete a project request form by clicking the button below and request hygiene or meal packaging kits. Note that these projects do require program sponsorship dollars.
