DOT supports "Feds Feed Families" campaign

The Department of Transportation is pleased and proud to participate in the “Feds Feed Families” food drive.

Yesterday, I went to the Capital Area Food Bank, one organization receiving food that federal personnel have been donating this summer. With me were Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Director of the Office of Personnel Management John Berry, and Senator Daniel Akaka of Hawaii.

What an amazing facility the Food Bank has and quite a powerhouse leader in Lynn Brantley. There are volunteers all over the place donating not money but time and labor to help package donated food for distribution to families in need. It's not easy work.

You know, one of the things I am most proud of as a member of the Obama Administration is the commitment to service we've emphasized. First Lady Michelle Obama has done a great job calling attention to the very real problem of hunger that exists right here in the District. And earlier this summer, we helped her launch the United We Serve program.

I want to thank John Berry for OPM's leadership on the food drive-–and DOT's own Linda Washington, who has done a great job coordinating our agency's donations.

We’ve set a goal at DOT along with our partners, the OPM, and the Capital Area Food Bank. We want to collect over 1 million pounds of food this summer to help refill empty shelves at local food banks.

Our next collection date is this Friday, and we hope to keep the donations pouring in.

In these hard times, it’s important to remember how fortunate many of us are, and it's important for those of us who have been so fortunate to help those who are struggling.

So, we at DOT are going to continue to do our part-–I hope all of you will do what you can as well.

Comments

[OC Webdesign]

I applaud you effort in this area. In fact I applaud all efforts both public and private to help the hungry in this country. The charities that we support have let us know that the support by the private sector has been seriously impacted by the economic circumstances. I don't think the public sector can bridge this gap. I hope the federal government will keep its eye on the main goal of getting the private citizens of this country back to work so they can again provide the support to those who feed the hungry.

Thanks for what you are doing.

[Frank]

That's just true, there's so much poverty and misery on this planet that every effort, and may it just be small, is worth it. I just hope that governments on the western hemisphere someday acknowledge that there's something terribly wrong and instead of sending food packes invest into the infrastructure of the countries in question.

[Orlando Web Design]

We just got back from Brazil. I never had really seen poverty until visiting Rio. It's great to see that someone is willing to help out.
Thank you,
Ronnie

[Kathy and Ken Blackpool]

Given the austerity around in the Country right now any charitable initiative has to be applauded.

I live in Europe and on a recent trip to the West Coast was astounded at the level of homelessness there was around the urban centres with people begging.

Simply put the financial crisis in 2008 has caused all this and the banks should play a role in putting it right