The Hands-on Fight Against Hunger

In 2009, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimated world hunger to have reached a historic high with 1.02 billion people going hungry every day. It is also estimated that 200,000 Hoosiers are facing hunger this winter.  Aren’t those sobering statistics during this festive time of year?

With the realities of world hunger in mind, Dow AgroSciences recently held a community service-oriented holiday event, complementing its business efforts that help to increase the world’s food supply with an interactive philanthropic effort aimed at curbing hunger.  This creative evolution of celebrating our corporate holiday event gave Dow AgroSciences employees a chance to band together and positively impact the community in a hands-on way.

From Monday, Nov. 27 through Friday, Dec. 3, the company held the “Dow AgroSciences Against Hunger” event at its global headquarters on the northwest side of Indianapolis. Employees were invited to participate in a food drive for Gleaners Food Bank, which culminated in packing 30 boxes worth of non-perishable food on that Friday for the local food bank. Also on Friday, Dec. 3, the company hosted the Indiana chapter of Kids Against Hunger, a relief organization that sends nutritionally balanced food to those in need around the world, at its site, and Dow AgroSciences employees volunteered in shifts to package more than 42,552 meals of rice and soybean based food. Half of these food packets will be sent to an orphanage in Haiti, while the rest of packets stay right here in Indiana to be distributed by Gleaners.

My sincerest thanks to more than 400 Dow AgroSciences employees who made valuable contributions to their local and global communities by volunteering and donating this holiday season, and thanks to thousands of Hoosiers who will give in order to make others’ plates a bit more full this year.

Contributed by: Tim Maniscalo, Dow AgroSciences Community Relations Leader