Mon Power Employees Kick Off 2024 Harvest for Hunger Campaign by Volunteering at Pantry Plus More in Morgantown
It's a heartbreaking reality that one in five children across Monongahela County, West Virginia, go to bed hungry, according to Morgantown-based nonprofit Pantry Plus More.
To help eliminate child hunger in their local communities, Mon Power employees recently teamed up with the organization to pack 74 food boxes for a food distribution event, prepare 120 weekend food bags for local students and assemble 250 boxes of hygiene and toiletries for local families in need. The volunteers also arranged shelves, unloaded supply trucks and dated food items.
View photos of Mon Power employees volunteering with Pantry Plus More on Flickr.
Pantry Plus More’s warehouse provided the perfect venue to kick off FirstEnergy’s annual Harvest for Hunger campaign earlier this month, a corporate initiative to eradicate food insecurity that has raised enough funds since its inception in 2001 to produce 48 million meals.
FirstEnergy’s companywide goal for the 2024 campaign is to raise $240,000, the equivalent of 1.5 million meals through the end of April. The FirstEnergy Foundation will match employee donations ranging from $25 to $5,000 to help feed families in communities served by FirstEnergy’s electric companies, including Mon Power.
“Our employees are proud to show up and support nonprofits like this pantry that are located in the heart of our service area and working to make lives better in the communities we serve,” said Jim Myers, President of FirstEnergy’s West Virginia Operations.
After providing services at a local school, one of the counselors told pantry volunteers that food insecurity is very traumatic for young kids, and local families in need have a new trust in their schools to help provide meals for them.
“When our people finish a volunteer shift, they are going to feel good knowing they helped children and families right here in their own neighborhoods,” said Myers. “It’s very rewarding to give back to our local community in this way.”
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