914th Airmen particpate in Feds Feed Families Program

by Tech. Sgt. Andrew Caya
914th Airlift Wing

9/6/2014 - NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION, N.Y. -- Members of the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station donated non-perishable food items to a local food pantry under a federal food donation program September 5.

Using the program Feds Feed Families, 914th Airlift Wing Airmen and their civilian counterparts donated 315 pounds of food to Heart, Love and Soul Inc. Food Pantry and Dining Room located in Niagara Falls, New York.

Heart, Love and Soul Inc. Operations and Personnel Manager Michael Daloia said in the summertime the pantry purchases lots of fresh fruit however, the non-perishable food items donated by the Wing are the pantry really needs.

"It's great," said Daloia of the donation. "We can't do this without community involvement and community support, and the (NFARS) has been such a fantastic partner with us; whether it's coming in to serve a meal or doing grounds work for us or doing maintenance--and collecting the food is another fantastic thing that they've done for us in the past."

According to the website of U.S. Department of Agriculture, since the Feds Feed Families campaign began in 2009, Federal workers have donated and collected 24.1 million pounds of food and other non-perishable items to support families across America.

While members from different units across the Wing contributed to the cause, the Fire and Emergency Services donated the most food. This outcome was due to a friendly competition within the ranks, according to John Schultz, assistant chief of fire prevention .

The base fire department is always involved in working with charities, said Schultz. When the notification of the Feds Feed Families came out, the firefighters wanted to make a challenge out of it.

"We wanted to see which shifts, also known as pods, could donate the most to the cause," said Shultz. The fire chief gave a gift card to a local super market to the pod that contributed the most food, however the winning Pods chose to donate the cards to the Food Pantry to buy the food they needed, said Schultz.

Schultz said overall, the firefighters contributed $50 in gift cards and nearly 250 pounds to the food pantry.

This year 4,933,000 pounds of food have been collected so far by federal employees to the Feds Feed Families program.

"During the summertime we've seen our need increase because kids have been out of school, and it's just a busier time for the food pantry, so we've needed to replenish...so to have our shelves restocked it just a fantastic feeling." said Daloia.