Many people wait all year for the holiday season, looking forward to shared meals and that first winter snowfall. But this can also be a difficult time for some members of our community, especially those who face food and clothing insecurity.
That’s why, each year, TUH-Main Campus’ Human Resources Office holds Build-a-Meal and Coat Donation Drives to supply local children, families, and patients with much-needed resources.
“This year, we had well over 300 coats, and more than 150 hats and gloves, donated to our Coat Drive,” says Dawn Stevenson, Senior HR Coordinator of Operations. “That’s the most we’ve had since COVID-19.”
These donations were sent to Mary McLeod Bethune School and Kenderton Elementary, which are around the corner from TUH-Main Campus. The coats, hats, and gloves will keep children in our community warm this winter, and help them focus on their academic success.
This Thanksgiving, we also held our annual Build-a-Meal Drive, which benefited the patients and families at Fox Chase Cancer Center at Temple University Hospital and our transplant units, as well as Holy Name Church, which distributed the items to community members and veterans. HR collected canned vegetables, stuffing mix, cranberry sauce, pie filling, and more—as well as monetary donations, which were converted into ShopRite gift cards—to assemble about 120 Thanksgiving meals for those in need.
“I think these drives say a lot about how the Temple Health community supports our neighbors,” Stevenson explains. “Our nurses and doctors and staff see our patients, and they see their need. They know that, if they’re warm and they have good food, they’ll be healthier. And our employees always come through. They give the gift of caring—and that’s just the greatest.”
