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Ameriprise Financial Employees Give Back to the Community
< < Back toIt's estimated that one in six Americans and around six million children currently struggle with hunger.
To help fight back against hunger Ameriprise Financial groups across the country are participating in national service day.
"Ameriprise itself has a National Day of Service and we as a chaddy group, a local organization in Athens Ohio, we decided that we want to participate and it's through Feeding America that we participate," said Ameriprise employee Larry Cross.
There are more than 9,000 Ameriprise employees and clients taking part in this National Day of Service around the country. In Southeast Ohio, there are around 30 people that helped fill hundreds of boxes of food.
The volunteers helped gather food and re-package it, so families around the region can have access to healthy meals.
Friday, the volunteer group became a small, but vital part in the food donation process.
"They are packing the commodity supplemental program food boxes, that is a program we distribute to seniors 60 and over that meet certain income eligibility requirements. We are contracted to do about four-thousand of those a month," said Chris Macneal, the Southeastern Ohio Food bank Resource Coordinator.
Although the work seemed never-ending, volunteers say they enjoyed participating.
"It's a fun time, you talk to people you don't ordinarily see, you get to do something useful and it's just a good way of giving back," said Athens resident and volunteer, Sharon Deno.
With the holidays right around the corner, Macneal says the volunteer group couldn't have come at a better time, "the demand is higher during this time of the year, we also have to take into consideration even January and February with the weather."
The Southeastern Ohio Food bank is the only one in the region.
Volunteers are needed year-round to help provide food to over 120 food pantries that then give the food to people that need it.
Anyone looking to help fight hunger can visit their local Ameriprise office and drop-off goods or donate money.
The Southeastern Ohio Food bank accepts volunteers throughout the year. For more information on how to become a volunteer visit their website http://hapcap.org/home.