In October this year, thousands of Starbucks partners (Starbucks calls their employees “partners”) flew to Houston, Texas for a global leadership conference. What an amazing thing. During that time, my twitter stream lit up with the #sglc12 hashtag, and many inspiring photos and stories.
One partner and I had the chance to sit down and talk really about her volunteering experience. I was moved. As many readers know, feeding the hungry is a dear issue to me. In Houston, like in many cities across the country, people go hungry. This partner told me that she went with thousands of others to the Houston Food Bank and packed up small bags of food. I inquired further about the bags of food. Starbucks partners worked putting together plastic bags that contained things like a couple cans of refried beans,a box of mac and cheese, juice boxes, a can of soup, and other food items. She said that the “Backpack Buddy” bags of food would be passed out to elementary school age children. Children in the Houston school system are encouraged not to miss a day of school, and on Fridays, needy children who have attended all week are given a large bag of food (about two to three pounds) which is placed in the child’s backpack. The child then carries the bag of food home. This often is the children’s food for the weekend – parents use the food to prepare meals for the family when no school lunches are accessible. For some children, their school lunch is their main meal.
I am reminded again that hunger in this country is real. People still go hungry and we can help. For those of you who are interested in this topic, I have a whole category about Food Lifeline, a hunger relief organization in Washington State, where I’ve done some volunteering.
During the #sglc12 tweets, the Houston Food Bank sent out this tweet which I thoroughly enjoyed. I am easily inspired by the passion of others:
I’m also reminded how ‘many hands make light work’ and the power of many to get work done is incredible. I heard a little more about the volunteering that Starbucks partners did, and I wanted to pass along this inspiring (Cliff Burrows) email excerpt:
There was no better way to demonstrate using our scale for good and leading through the lens of humanity than to make a difference in the Houston community that is home to 236 of our stores. Working together with the Fifth Ward Community Redevelopment Corporation, Houston Food Bank, Volunteer Houston and AMMA in three days, we packaged hundreds of thousands of nutritious meals, assembled hygiene kits, painted murals, mosaics and garden signs, renovated a school, painted multiple homes, created urban gardens, built a playground and held workforce development workshops. Together, we volunteered more than 42,000 hours of service and positively impacted some of the city’s most underserved communities.
By the way, now is a good time to mention that there is a Starbucks community service website which both customers and partners can access: Starbucks community service page. I don’t expect this article to receive a lot of comments, but I still thought it was absolutely important to share. If you’ve volunteered at meal programs, or food banks, I’d love to hear your stories too.
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Melody thank you for sharing this partner experience with your community. It is quite interesting to me that I did not read about this anywhere else and it is a shame local SB stores did not share this with their customers. My local SB has done food drives but the response has not been great. I always contribute and am disappointed when I hear the end results. Thank you again Melody.
@Purple1 – What you mention is super interesting. I have always said that Starbucks could do a better job of telling their story. They are always doing more in communities than people know. Among the many reasons I have a blog (it is a long list of reasons), one thing I hope to do is share some good Starbucks stories!
While in Houston for the Leadership Conference, I did my Community Service in the Fifth Ward. We (about 15 partners) helped rehab an older home by painting and doing some minor repair work on an early 20th century shotgun style house. We watched as other partners were walking around the streets picking up trash, and trimming weeds in the parks and grass right of ways. It was by far the best part of the entire trip (certainly the most fulfilling!) But I don’t talk to the public about what we did in Houston unless someone specifically asks about the community aspect of our trip. Why, you may ask, don’t we talk up this amazing event, and the spirit of over 40,000 hours given back to the Houston community? Because it’s just who we are as partners. While I appreciate that you, Melody, love to talk us up to the world, we give back not for the attention it would bring, no, we give back because it is the right thing to do. Period.
Our Neighborhood
Every store is part of a community, and we take our responsibility to be good neighbors seriously. We want to be invited in wherever we do business. We can be a force for positive action – bringing together our partners, customers, and the community to contribute every day. Now we see that our responsibility – and our potential for good – is even larger. The world is looking to Starbucks to set the new standard, yet again. We will lead.
Chris said it perfectly.
I also volunteered in the 5th Ward. My group helped to clean up a church yard. From what I understand it is a very active church with members who are mostly seniors. What we were able to accomplish was really needed, but if left to the senior members of the church, I don’t think it would have been done (too hot for them to spend that much time outside doing that kind of work!). We painted their fence, and did some other yard work.
This is where *I* volunteered when I was in Houston – it was incredible! I was totally bummed at first, because I was the only one from my district who was volunteering there, and therefore I had to meet new people *gasp*
The whole operation was crazy organized. I was with a small group of partners who got to wear hairnets, parkas and labcoats and repackage thousands of pounds of frozen potato mix into smaller bags. We were dancing and singing, and laughing, and it turned out my particular dancing buddy was a regional VP from California. He looked just as goofy in his hairnet as all the rest of us, and I loved the really practical illustration that we *are* all partners.
And personally, I also don’t feel the need to advertise what we do for the community…we do it because we think it’s the right thing to do, and the people who really need to know -the ones we’re volunteering for- already know 🙂
I completely get the idea if you ‘toot your own horn the notes sometimes come out sounding flat.’ But I don’t mind being one to share about some good things Starbucks does!
Can’t say enough good things about those who give up their time for the less fortunate. I for one, am not one of those good souls, much to my shame.
I am not going to sit here and make excuses that I don’t have enough time to give. It is a lame justification, my selfishness.
I do give in many other ways and many times. Does it balance, I don’t know.
This story needed to be commented on because with your help Melody, maybe more people will open their eyes and see the work of altruistic individuals, like you, who make our world a better place.
Bless your heart and those like you. My admiration is endless.