Christian Homes staff makes collection contest fun

Food pantry and area residents in need are ultimate winners

[November 18, 2008]  The staff at Christian Homes Inc., 200 N. Postville Drive, has been on a mission to help the Lincoln/Logan County Food Pantry, and by anyone's standards, their generosity has been amazing. They also had fun at the same time, creating a contest between different departments.

The 50-plus corporate office employees were divided into three groups that were determined by office locations. One end of the building had about the same number of people as the accounting and billing departments down the hallway. Information technology was grouped with the downtown location to try to balance out staffing numbers. They even decided to have fun with the names they gave themselves. The three groups and their names are:

• The Smashing Pumpkins: executive hallway, human resources and marketing departments

• The Turkey Club: billing and payroll departments

• Good Gravy, Develop IT: IT and development departments

The contest was simple: to see which group could collect the most food for the pantry.

The friendly rivalry among staff not only created a stir at Christian Homes, but also has created a serious delivery of foodstuffs to the pantry, and the final totals haven't been released yet.

The project was announced at the Oct. 28 staff lunch, and there were to be three separate counts of each group's collections to help stimulate competitiveness. Employees also were notified as the contest went along as to what nonperishables were needed to help balance the pantry's supplies. On Nov. 25, the winning group will be announced at the Thanksgiving staff lunch.

The contest was simple and, according to several staff members, a lot of fun. Each team had its own boxes for collected food. Collections were judged both on weight and number of items. The winning team will get to eat first at the Thanksgiving luncheon (and have bragging rights).

The first week's totals were very good, but as the competition heated up, the totals became amazing. In the first week the Turkey Club collected 117 items weighing in at 149 pounds.

The Smashing Pumpkins brought in 66 items weighing in at 92 pounds. The Good Gravy, Develop IT team started the contest with 33 items weighing in at 42 pounds.

In the second week, the Smashing Pumpkins collected 485 items weighing in at 603 pounds; Turkey Club, 221 items weighing in at 288 pounds; and Good Gravy, Develop IT, a solid 197 items weighing in at 233 pounds.

The final results will be held for the luncheon, with the last week's total included, but already totals of over 1,000 items at a total weight of over 1,400 pounds have been announced.

Several sources have said that the food drive competition was fun and they are considering making the drive an annual event.

The final numbers will be announced after the competition has ended. With the weekend food drive just around the corner, it is the donations and generosity of organizations such as Christian Homes that will make this food drive a resounding success.

[LDN staff; files received from Christian Homes]

Previous related article

• 2nd annual Lincoln/Logan County Food Pantry drive coming Nov. 21, 22