Assistance League of Diablo Valley Enjoys Return Visit from Corporate Partners Fehr & Peers

Assistance League of Diablo Valley President Veronica Gant (row 1, far r), Food Boxes Chairman Joanna Smith (row 2, far r), Corporate Partners Committee Member Lyn Smith and Co-Chair Linda Mercer (far l), show hands-on appreciation to Corporate Partners Fehr & Peers employee volunteers Judy Schaefer (Team Leader), Clara Wong, Ellen Polling (row 1 center) and Julie Morgan, Ryan McClain, Patrick Gilster, Rob Reese, and Mike Rodriguez (back row).

Assistance League® of Diablo Valley’s Community Programs Committee umbrellas seven programs that meet a range of community needs. Food Boxes is one such program whose members are responsible for the purchase of food and everyday necessities for individuals and families who are part of the CAL WORKS program and run out of food by month’s end. Food Boxes Chairman Joanna Smith and committee members coordinated the most recent event by selecting such nutritious items as peanut butter and jelly, pears and peaches, sweet potatoes and corn, beef and chicken soup, canned chicken and Spam, pinto beans and pasta, tamales and salsa, and cereal and oatmeal, pancake mix and syrup. Once delivered to the chapter house in Walnut Creek, these items transformed its large conference room into an assembly line workplace.

The next phase was facilitated by the chapter’s Corporate Partners Committee, which enlists hands-on and financial help from members of the business and corporate communities. Fehr & Peers, known for providing transportation planning and traffic engineering services to private and public sectors, made a return visit on Thursday morning, January 15. Committed to the Corporate Partners program since 2011, Fehr & Peers believes that supporting a nonprofit organization such as Assistance League of Diablo Valley improves lives in our community. To that end, eight employee volunteers effortlessly broke down cartons, assembled boxes, and filled 60 of them in two hours’ time. Once again, Assistance League of Diablo Valley and Corporate Partners Fehr & Peers put “Caring and Commitment into Action.”

The third phase, distribution, engaged the Contra Costa County Services Integration Program who, with the help of CAL WORKS, delivered 30 filled boxes to both Richmond and Bay Point families. The entire process went beyond receiving, sorting, and hauling goods from Points A to C. While the food relieved hunger, community awareness and support nurtured a deeper need.

To learn about Assistance League of Diablo Valley’s other philanthropic programs, funded by its thrift shop in Lafayette, and its recently awarded GuideStar Exchange gold participation level status, please visit this website: diablovalley.assistanceleague.org or the GuideStar Exchange.