2017-Dec-21

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Feeding Hometown Hungry

BY SUSAN CALVERT · CRITICAL ACCOUNTS PROGRAM MANAGER · UNITED STATES

I live in Troy, Ohio, and work for the greatest company in the country while still being able to serve the citizens in my home town. Working at Cisco allows me to not only give dollars to our local soup kitchen, but it also paves the way through Time2Give to allow me to give my time to a cause that is close to my heart. That is important to me!

I first began volunteering as a child with my dad. He was always doing something for someone else, even donating blood every eight weeks! He instilled in me the values that we need to care for others and look for opportunities to serve, values that Cisco also shares.

I have been volunteering with the Hobart Community Kitchen for eight years.

For the first year, my dad and I would prepare and serve meals directly at the soup kitchen location. However, in September of 2010, they approached me and asked if we would deliver meals once a month to those folks that could not physically come to eat at the soup kitchen.

This request led to a family project! On October 31, 2010, we (my mom, Dad, son, and I) delivered 17 meals to residents in one particular housing project. I started out with one goal in mind—prepare a home-cooked meal for anyone who requested it. In October 2017, we celebrated our 7th anniversary and delivered 396 meals. Our growth shows that there is still a need to help people that are living at or below the poverty level.

Last year, I used my 40 hours of Time2Give volunteer hours to prepare for Christmas Day. I needed that time to prepare as we served 422 meals­—that meant cooking 13 turkeys, 5 hams, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, and of course, Christmas cookies!

I don’t have any official catering training; however, when I was in college I worked at a family camp as a lifeguard and also in the kitchen. That experience of working in a large industrial kitchen taught me many valuable things about cooking for large quantities of people that I still use today. I have had to learn how to adjust meals so that issues such as allergies, dental hygiene, sodium content, and other factors are addressed. 

Since the quantity of meals was increasing every month, I had to change how I baked or how I served meals by repeating and improving the process each time and focusing on how to increase efficiency while maintaining quality. This growth has also led to a need for additional resources. For the first 3 years, my family and I did all the purchasing, preparing, and delivering.

However, the growth has illuminated the need for more hands and feet to deliver. I now have one person who bakes all the desserts each month, and there are now two families that carry out 95 percent of the deliveries. They arrive at my home in two different shifts to package and deliver. We started in one housing community, and seven years later we are delivering in more than six residential housing communities as well as individual apartments and homes. 

While I still make a considerable personal financial investment, this volunteer experience is also about the great partnerships that I have had the privilege of enjoying. I receive wonderful donations from two different restaurants in town: El Sombrero provides beef (which is no small donation, as I used 80 pounds of ground beef in October of 2017!), and Panera Bread provides gourmet bread. Their generosity is astounding!

I am so proud to work for Cisco! Cisco empowers me to make the decision, on where to invest my time and money, to causes that are important to me. And, what’s more, they match my donation. With Cisco, I can keep on giving.

On Christmas day this year, my family and I will be feeding over 425 people—our biggest number yet!

How will you be helping others this holiday season?

Related Links

• St. Patricks Soup Kitchen
• Hobart Community Kitchen Opening
• Donate to St. Patrick Soup Kitchen
• Careers at Cisco
• Time2Give

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