Gleaners Community Food Bank Gets Helping Hand from BCBSM Interns
Sarah Basile
| 2 min read
More than 85 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan interns gave back to Gleaners Community Food Bank on two recently held volunteer days. During the summer months, Blue Cross employs over 100 interns at schools across Michigan and other states, including New York, Illinois and Washington, D.C. The company believes in the importance of giving back to the community and offers interns the opportunity to do so through coordinated volunteer efforts.
Some of this year's Blue Cross interns volunteering at Gleaners Community Food Bank. (Courtesy photo) This year, interns worked with the food bank, which provides households in the metro Detroit area with access to food and other resources. The organization works tirelessly to feed hungry neighborhoods and nourish communities, with a mission to end hunger throughout southeast Michigan. "One of the reasons I chose to intern at Blue Cross was because of the commitment they make to helping others," said Madison O'Connor, a corporate communications intern at BCBSM. "From the wonderful opportunities they provide for employees, to trying to make health care accessible for all, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan really highlights the things I value and look for in a workplace." Interns broke into teams and worked in a warehouse full of food products. Projects consisted of sorting and packaging food, assembling agency food orders, working on direct mail campaigns and other tasks. The work was labor-intensive, with interns on their feet all day. O'Connor and her fellow corporate communications intern Daniel Foy boxed up cookies and crackers, coded boxes and placed them on enormous pallets. At the end of their morning shift, their team managed to prepare a staggering 4,800 pounds of Nabisco food products to help the hungry. Foy was happy for the chance to give back. “This provided me the perfect opportunity to do something like this,” he said. “I probably would not have known how to volunteer at Gleaners in this capacity otherwise. I’m thankful for the structure it provided and the opportunity to work with peers who are also interning with BCBSM.” If you enjoyed this post, you might also like:
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Main image photo credit: Waldo Jaquith
