Aflac Employees Help Provide Nearly 45,000 Meals to Those in Need

Originally published on Aflac Newsroom

134 hours. Dozens of colleagues. One meaningful, shared purpose.

Over the past six months, teams of Aflac employees have volunteered at Feeding the Valley Food Bank, part of the Feeding America network, to help provide nearly 45,000 meals for children and adults living with food insecurity in the Chattahoochee Valley in Georgia and Alabama — over 53,800 pounds of food so far this year.

Aflac’s long history with Feeding the Valley includes a recent $290,000 donation toward a much-needed expansion at its Midland, Georgia location. In addition to other amenities, the new space has an air-conditioned area dedicated to volunteering — the Aflac Hunger Action Center — with twice as much room as the previous volunteer space.

“Since 2017, we’ve been able to increase our footprint by 75% — that equates to storage space that can accommodate an additional 2 million pounds of dry food and enable distribution of more than 5 million pounds of lean meats and fresh produce per year,” said Frank Sheppard, President and CEO at Feeding the Valley. “And, with the expanded Aflac Hunger Action Center, we have double the space to accommodate our amazing community volunteers who help us get food packaged and ready to be placed into the hands of those in need.”

Last year, more than 15 million pounds of food were provided to individuals and more than 350 partner food pantry organizations throughout 17 counties in Georgia and one in Alabama.

Volunteering at Feeding the Valley has become a regular activity for the Aflac Sales Resolution team, who packed 390 mobile pantry boxes and 80 buddy packs during a recent outing. Feeding the Valley’s mobile pantries provide boxes of canned goods and groceries to more than 12,000 families per month where there is limited access to a grocery store or an emergency food pantry. And, because hunger doesn’t take the weekend off, their Buddy Pack program is there to help bridge the gap between the school week and the weekend, when free breakfasts and lunches are not available.

“We always leave feeling like we have really participated in something worthwhile and are making a difference in our community, said Mike Tucker, manager, Aflac Sales Resolution. “This is also a great team-building event and brings us closer together as a team.”

Jon Sullivan, director, Aflac Corporate Communications, agrees. His team recently gathered at Feeding the Valley to help sort and pack boxes of canned goods, juice, rice and other nonperishable items.

“Taking the afternoon recently to pack mobile pantry boxes at the new Aflac Hunger Action Center was hard work, but it was also a great experience for our team,” said Sullivan. “Not only were we able to help address a tremendous need within our community, but we also found great value in spending quality time together in service to others. We work as a team at the office every day, but realizing the difference our teamwork can make outside of our daily jobs was a true morale boost.”

For more information about Feeding the Valley, visit FeedingTheValley.org, and learn more about how Aflac gives back to the community at Aflac.com/AboutAflac.

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