Laura L. Butterfield, BSN, Lu Ann Hall, BSN, and Jennifer Patullo, BSN, of The Miriam Hospital prepare food donated during Lifespan’s “Season of Giving” drive for delivery to community pantries around the state.
Lifespan partnered with Ocean State Job Lot for its annual holiday food drive, with spectacular results. The joint effort yielded more than 50,000 pounds of food to stock community pantries and provide Thanksgiving dinner baskets to Rhode Islanders in need.
“Caring for our neighbors is the foundation of what we do at Lifespan,” said President and CEO Timothy J. Babineau, M.D. “I applaud the generosity of the Lifespan community that, in collaboration with Ocean State Job Lot, has donated thousands of pounds of food in our annual Season of Giving drive. Grateful for our own blessings, we’re happy that we can help brighten the holidays for Rhode Islanders in need.”
“As partners, we can do so much more together than we can do on our own. When we found out that a key component of Lifespan's ‘Season of Giving’ program is a food drive, we thought it was a perfect opportunity to work together, as fighting food insecurity is a pillar of the Ocean State Job Lot Charitable Foundation,” said Marc Perlman, principal owner and CEO, Ocean State Job Lot.
Perlman added, “We agreed to match donations pound for pound and promised that if Lifespan could collect 10,000 pounds of food, we’d then donate 25,000 pounds of food — an entire tractor-trailer load — to the RI Community Food Bank."
Lifespan colleagues formed large and small teams for a friendly competition to see which could collect the most canned and shelf-stable food relative to their number of members.
“As I visited Lifespan hospitals and our other sites around the state, I was thrilled to see how enthusiastically my colleagues had supported the food drive,” said Monica Anderson, Lifespan’s director of community relations and corporate citizenship. “Their outpouring of generosity means a happier holiday season for many of our neighbors.”
Teamsters Local 251, which represents a number of Rhode Island Hospital employees, pitched in by loading and transporting the donated food.
The provisions are being distributed to partners in the community who help food-insecure Rhode Islanders, including the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, Crossroads Family Shelter, Camp Street Community Ministries, Capitol City Community Center Food Pantry, St. Raymond’s Food Pantry in Pawtucket, and the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Newport.
The food drive is just one of the “Season of Giving” activities at Lifespan. Toy collections, coat drives, adopt-a-family efforts, and a gingerbread kit sale provide other opportunities for employees to help their less fortunate neighbors.