At the beginning of this most recent summer, a collection of Apogee Search coworkers and I bungled into planes, trains and automobiles – OK, automobiles outnumbered the planes and the trains – and bolted to the Capital Area Food Bank of Texas (CAFB).

Personally, it would not only be an opportunity to help out hungry Central Texans, but it was the chance to reconnect with a group of people I spent a considerable amount of time with. I worked at CAFB as a Food Resources VISTA through the Americorps VISTA program for one year and it was an experience that I take with me to my current position.

At the end of my assignment, I thought to myself that I felt fulfilled working at a place that will not only allow me to volunteer here, but be wholly supportive of their cause. I did not realize that it would be just a few short months before I would return to work with CAFB, not as a CAFB employee, but as a volunteer with several new coworkers in tow.

Seven months ago, I started working at Apogee Search, a search marketing firm located in North Austin. A couple of months after my first day, I asked if it would be possible to round up several Apogee Search employees for an important trip to the CAFB of Texas to volunteer.

“Absolutely!” was the instantaneous reply. It was then that I realized that I work at a company that not only allowed the opportunity to volunteer, but is altogether supportive – lending a hand in the Austin community is an important initiative under our core value of cooperation.

On Apogee Search’s volunteer day, we poured out of our cars and into the Food Bank ready to work. Once inside, our exuberant host Xavier Perez led us to the Product Recovery area where we would clean, sort and package cans of corn, bottles of water and boxes of cereal, among other items.

The experience proved fruitful — over the course of three hours, the Apogee Search team managed to clean, sort and package 10,276 pounds of food which provided 8,220 meals to individuals and families of central Texas. Within minutes of walking out of the Product Recovery area and into the lobby, coworkers were already discussing the next trip.

After witnessing my coworkers’ empathy and hard work, I started to think that this could be a rewarding and humbling quarterly activity for all at Apogee Search.

It is nearing the end of September and in just a few weeks, on Oct. 17, the Apogee Search/CAFB Volunteer Day reminders anxiously sit in my inbox. It’s official (notarized, signed, sealed, delivered, it’s ours), Apogee Search will be making scheduled trips to South Austin to help the Food Bank nourish hungry people and lead the community in ending hunger.

According to CAFB’s website, “nearly one in five adults and one in four Texas children are starving,” and an astonishing “41,000 children under the age of 18 in Travis County are confronted with food insecurity [lack of access to nutritious foods] every day.” These numbers are startling and made an impact on the employees of Apogee Search, which has led to the company’s decision to remain active volunteers with CAFB.

Having spent a full year at CAFB working to increase food donations from Austin- area companies, I know the importance of petitioning your employer to not only do a food drive, for example, but also asking them to set aside a day where employees can and get their hands dirty, learn about the startling and devastating hunger problem in Central Texas and give back to the community that helps their own business.

In a month’s time, we will again hop into our planes, trains and automobiles and head back to CAFB to volunteer, working to feed hungry Texas families and enriching our souls.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 15th, 2008 at 9:42 am by Cory Barbot and is filed under Apogee in the Community. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.