Hacienda, Other Area Parks to Participate in Holiday Food Drive

By Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Documentum is among several companies sponsoring the annual Holiday Food Drive, benefitting the Alameda County Community Food Bank. This year, Hacienda businesses will be looking to outdo themselves again, topping last year's donations of over 35,000 pounds of food and $8,000.

As an added incentive, Hacienda is joining in a competition with Harbor Bay and Marina Village business parks in Alameda.

The Holiday Food Drive, which runs now through December 31, will recognize the winners in three different categories, says the Food Bank's Kristine Jayne, the drive coordinator.

"The awards will be done on an employee ratio basis, so the competition will be on an even footing," she says. "We'll have an award that recognizes the company that raises the most food per employee. Another category is the company that raises the most money per employee, and the final category will recognize the business park that raises the most overall food, money, and volunteer hours, again based on a per employee ratio."

Last year, 22 companies from Hacienda participated in the drive.

Many Reasons to Participate

The prizes will add a fun element of friendly competition to the Holiday Food Drive, but there are more important reasons to participate.

"In this day of welfare reform, more and more people are in need of emergency food services," says Jayne. "As of September 1, an additional 10,000 people were taken off of food stamps, so there are an additional 10,000 people who are likely to end up using our services. They are added to an additional 95,000 people in Alameda County who use an emergency food provider each month."

Dependent on Donations, Volunteers

The Alameda County Community Food Bank distributes over 6.5 million pounds of food each year to 273 member organizations, depending on donations of both food and volunteer labor to meet the increasing demand.

The Food Bank provides meals to a number of Tri-Valley charities, including the Family Crisis Center, Interfaith Sharing, Inc., and Shepherd's Gate in Livermore and Bay Area Community Service in Pleasanton.

The Food Bank has a goal of 400,000 pounds of food overall for this year's holiday food drives.

"A typical meal weighs about 1.25 pounds. This would mean that last year Documentum employees donated 20,000 pounds of food, which translates to 16,000 meals," says Jayne.

Signing Up

To participate in this year's Holiday Food Drive, contact either Kristine Jayne or Steve Landale at the Alameda County Community Food Bank, (510) 568-3663.

"They can call and register over the telephone, it's a simple process," says Jayne. "After that, we will mail them a packet which contains all the information they need to start their company food drive."

The packet includes a master flier which can be reproduced, a "drive guide" which contains ideas about promoting the food drive in their business, as well as a list of volunteer opportunities available at the Food Bank. For instance, volunteers are constantly needed to help sort incoming food before it is redistributed to the member agencies.

Information is also available from the Hacienda Owners Association at 734-6500.

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