With Thanksgiving upon us, we here at First Impression Ironworks count the blessings in our lives, big and small! We know it’s also essential to pass on these blessings to others less fortunate! According to a study published in 2017 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, an estimated 1 in 8 Americans are food insecure, equating to 42 million Americans including 13 million children. As a company, we chose to work with Midwest Food Bank this year to help their efforts in combating food insecurity in our local area.

What is Food Insecurity?

Food insecurity is different from hunger. Hunger is the physical sensation of a lack of food, whereas food insecurity is when a family does not know where their next meal will come from. With COVID-19 creating a disruption in the US food supply chain and job security, FII decided to jump in the Midwest Food Bank of Arizona’s initiative!

“Our hope is to help bridge the gap between prosperity and poverty in our community.” -David Kieser, Founder & President, Midwest Food Bank

Midwest Food Bank collects, warehouses, and distributes food and essential supplies to front-line organizations like food pantries and soup kitchens. Charity Navigator has given Midwest Food Bank their highest four-star overall score and rating. Midwest Food Bank of Arizona serves over 300 agency partners from their warehouse in Gilbert and a satellite distribution in Tucson. They serve agency partners in multiple counties across Arizona and into parts of Southern California. The goods they deliver to agency partners help to supplement the food supply for families and individuals across our country, aiding those whose resources are beyond stretched.

Our FII team worked together to contribute food items to the Midwest Food Bank of Arizona, in Gilbert, for Thanksgiving this year! We collected canned and boxed food items throughout the company and in our showrooms. Our goal was to collect as much as possible and deliver these items to the food bank by Thanksgiving.

We then went one step further and assembled a team of employees, with their spouses and kiddos, who volunteered their time to repackage essential supplies and place them onto pallets for distribution.

“The First Impression Ironworks leadership team met and was thinking of ways to give back to the community during times of this pandemic. We found it important to help others that are having a difficult time providing for their family. Here in Gilbert, Arizona we saw that Midwest Food Bank offered opportunities for families in need. This foundation solely operates as a volunteer-based national food bank providing support and donations. Such an incredible place with outstanding values! When we learned that 1 in 4 children struggle with hunger, we knew we had to do our part in delivering hope to families. We are proud to serve the community and bring along our family & friends to this event as well. First Impression wants to make a positive difference by supporting our local partners and embracing community values with our teamwork. We are thrilled to do this as a team and give back to our community. Here’s to building hope through our time, energy, and smiles. We are so proud of our team and love that we can do something great for the community.” – Shannon Peterson, Director of Customer Care

If you’d like to volunteer at the Midwest Food Bank, click here to learn more! There are also donation opportunities for you here. This is your chance to support your local charity organization with a food drive during a time that is even more difficult than usual for a lot of families. We felt honored to be a small part of the effort to make a positive difference for those in need.

Happy Thanksgiving!