AIA Fights Hunger with Food Drive

To fight hunger on a local level, Neenah, Wisconsin-based Adventures In Advertising (AIA) organized a food drive benefiting Advocap of the Fox Valley. Advocap—a nonprofit community action agency— serves low-income families in Wisconsin’s Fond du Lac, Winnebago and Green Lake counties. According to the U.S. Census Bureau and the Food Research and Action Center, there are nearly 25,000 people living in poverty in Advocap’s service area.

The two-week donation blitz divided the 65 AIA staffers into teams that competed not only on the amount of food collected but also on the “sculpture” they created with the goods, on which the network of AIA owners voted for their favorite. The I.T. department was declared the winner—on quantity and creativity.

Additionally, if the goal of 500 donated items was met, the entire staff would be treated to a gourmet breakfast—including made-to-order pancakes, sausages, eggs, fruit, pastries, coffee and juice—served by the AIA management team. More than 1,000 nonperishable food and personal-care products were collected, and management donned their aprons.

Wendy Eiden, AIA human-resources manager, commented, “AIA is very community-minded and wanted to help out this organization before the holidays, when its shelves are the emptiest. We are proud that our organization came together so quickly and enthusiastically for this great cause.”