After donating nearly 2,800 hours of time and more than 80,000 pounds of food over the past five years, volunteers from University of Utah Health Care (UUHC) have been named the Utah Food Bank's 2013 Corporate Volunteer Group of the Year. The recognition comes as a result of a commitment by staff to give back to the community over the past five years.
During the past holiday season, 565 volunteers donated 845 hours over eight days, a massive increase from the 188 volunteers on three different days in 2009. Last year, staff donated more than $32,000 and more than 13,000 lbs. of food during the holiday drive.
Hospital CEO David Entwistle accepted the award on behalf of staff at Utah Food Bank's Open Hearts Helping Hands luncheon in early April.
Ginette Bott, chief development officer of the Utah Food Bank, praised the volunteers.
"University of Utah Health Care has been a phenomenal partner of ours in the fight against hunger for five years," she said. "Not only are their staff members committed to our mission, but their energy and competence means that we are able to ask them to help with any volunteer project we might need help with. We ask for three things: food, time, and money – UUHC has given us amazing support in all three of our needed areas, and we are incredibly grateful for our partnership."