My Day Giving Back on a 'Food for Good' Route in Dallas

Hi, I’m Brooke Birdsong (that's me on the left), Senior Human Resources Coordinator at the Frito-Lay headquarters office in Plano, Texas, and a new member of the Snack Chat team.

Frito-Lay and PepsiCo (our parent company) support a variety of community efforts that align with our PepsiCo vision of Performance with Purpose, and it’s important to me to volunteer with these events when possible.  Last week, I joined our Food for Good team in Dallas to serve meals in a low-income area of town, and for my first post, I want to share more about my experience.  

Food for Good is a program in which PepsiCo partnered with Central Dallas Ministries and AmeriCorps to provide nutritious meals to underserved children. One of its programs is a mobile meal delivery system that helps feed children while they’re home from school during the summer – a time when need is especially great, since children don’t have access to the free breakfast or lunch programs they have during the school year.

A co-worker, Pamela Zygouras, and I followed a Food for Good meal delivery truck into various apartment complexes in an urban part of Dallas. Henry Tasby (with his truck at right), a Frito-Lay Route Sales Representative, led the Food for Good route and drove the delivery truck. He runs a tight ship, which is important because he is responsible for one of the busiest Food for Good routes.  He drives his entire route with his windows rolled down, his Marc Broussard tunes blaring and a big smile on his face.  Before we made our first stop, children started coming out from everywhere -- holding hands, running, laughing and riding bikes -- ready to line up for their nutritious meal and a drink.  

Before our arrival, the AmeriCorps volunteers set up tents and blankets at each stop on the route, where Henry and volunteers serve the meals at the same time daily. That way, the children know where to go even before the truck arrives.  My job for the day was to help put the meals together for handout and to interact with the children.  For breakfast, the meals include a fresh apple, a Quaker bar and milk.  The lunches contain turkey sandwiches on wheat bread, a fresh apple, orange juice and milk.  After the kids ate their lunches, we passed out the afternoon snack, and then it was activity time! We jumped rope, played soccer and drew with sidewalk chalk. It was amazing to see and experience the joy we brought into the communities and how incredibly gracious the children and parents were when we   passed out the meals.  

As a parent myself, I was humbled to see the smiles on the kids’ faces, knowing there are likely days in which they don’t know where the next meal will come from. As they finished their meals and the families went back to their homes, I heard several of the kids say, “See you tomorrow, Henry,” waving with excitement.

We talk about Performance with Purpose every day at Frito-Lay/PepsiCo.  Last week, that vision came to life for me in a very different way than it had before.  It was truly refreshing to participate and give back in person -- more so than just making a financial donation.  It felt good to help spread joy and hope, and to be part of a company that truly values what that means. Knowing how this makes me feel, I encourage my coworkers, friends and our Snack Chat readers to get involved in your own communities. Once you do, you’ll see ow simple actions really can make a difference.

- Brooke

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[Brooke Birdsong]

Dallas Morning News article here: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/DN-foodforgood_05met.ART.Central.Edition1.3577759.html