Service Day at Harvesters – The Community Food Network

The MAX Insurance team gathered for our annual Service Day on September 29th.  We closed our offices for the day and enjoyed giving our time at Harvesters – The Community Food Network in MAX’s home office area of Kansas City, MO.  Harvesters is a regional food bank serving a 26-county area of northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas.  The MAX team toured the Harvesters facility where we learned more about the programs Harvesters provides throughout the region.  Following the tour, our team gathered in the warehouse where we repackaged 10,985 pounds of potatoes, sweet potatoes and carrots.  Whether we stuffed the bags by hand or with the machine, we enjoyed being together and helping Harvesters provide fresh vegetables to the food insecure.

Repackaging vegetables at Harvesters

We reserved the Hunger Awareness Center, a large meeting space with a kitchen, where we ate our boxed lunches and then took part in our next activity – Give Lunch bags.  The Give Lunch bags provide children nonperishable ready-to-eat meals.  MAX’s Mutual Aid Ministries program purchased food items through Sysco for the team to pack 480 Give Lunch bags.  We made two assembly lines and packed away! The last step was building boxes and packing nine Give Lunch bags per box.  The photos below show the team assembling the bags and everyone in front of all of our boxes.

Assembling Give Lunch Bags

Lastly, we want to give a shout-out to two local organizations we supported in our Service Day:

  • GoEx Apparel in Kansas City where we ordered our t-shirts.  GoEx is a part of the Global Orphan Project that manages CarePortal, a platform that helps vulnerable children and families.  Our team, through MAX’s Mutual Aid Ministries program, fulfills individual CarePortal requests throughout the year.
  • Thelma’s Kitchen in Kanas City where we ordered our boxed lunches. Thelma’s Box Lunch is a social venture of Reconciliation Services where every Box Lunch helps provide social & mental health services and reduce food insecurity for KC neighbors in need.

Thanks to our members and agents for their patience while we closed the office for the day.  As you can see from the photos, we had a great time on our Service Day at Harvesters!

MAX Team Gathers for Day of Service

MAX Insurance’s team came together for a Day of Service on October 7.  We closed our offices for the day and enjoyed giving our time to Drumm Farm Center for Children, a local organization in MAX’s home office area of Kansas City.  Drumm Farm’s vision is helping children in foster care, homeless young adults and those aging out of foster care build successful lives by providing programs and services that support forever family environments, emotional and physical well-being, education opportunities and personal growth. The MAX team spread out and did a variety of projects benefiting the farm:

  • Weeded garden beds – asparagus, strawberries, peppers and eggplants
  • Prepped and planted garlic beds
  • Painted fences and trash bins
  • Cleared brush along fence lines
  • Power-washed entrance fencing
  • Chopped, split and bundled wood
  • Worked the beverage tents at their golf tournament fundraiser

In addition to giving our time, our Mutual Aid Ministries program gave a donation to Drumm Farm.  Thanks to our members and agents for their patience while we closed the office for the day.  As you can see from the photos, we had a great time on our Day of Service!

Lastly, we want to give a shout-out to GoEx Apparel in Kansas City where we ordered our t-shirts.  GoEx is a part of the Global Orphan Project which manages CarePortal, a platform our Mutual Aid Ministries program has enjoyed participating in this year.

Garden Weed Pulling
Garlic Planting
Painting
Clear Brush
Power Wash and Golf Tournament
Wood Bundling
Wood bundling

MAX Team holds First Day of Service

MAX Insurance’s team held its very first Day of Service on October 18.  We closed our offices for the day and enjoyed giving our time to Veterans Community Project, a local organization in MAX’s home office area of Kansas City.  The Veterans Community Project has an outreach center for veterans and also a village of tiny homes which are used as transitional housing for homeless veterans.  The MAX team spread out and did a variety of projects:

  • Painted exterior of two tiny houses
  • Painted interior of a home
  • Grouted a lot of tile backsplashes
  • Picked up trash around the construction area of the homes
  • Assembled furniture
  • Folded T-shirts
  • Watered landscaping

Thanks to our members and agents for their patience while we closed the office for the day.  As you can see from the photos, we had a great time on our first Day of Service!

Day of Service
Day of Service 2
Day of Service 3

Volunteering

by Terri Mooney-Hooker, Administrative Coordinator

When you think about volunteering, what comes to mind? What can you do to help out in your community? Where do you start? Volunteering your time to help others around your area, no matter what time of the year or occasion, can be very fulfilling as well as giving an opportunity to make a true difference in someone’s life.

There are many places and projects around your community that need volunteers. If you have a special place in your heart for something that might be a good place to start; nursing homes to help with the elderly, a hospital to help with the ill, animal shelters, school programs, and the list goes on and on…

You can also find websites online that list volunteer activities in your area. Here are a few:

Always be sure to be realistic about your availability. Remember, volunteering is of your time; do not allow it to interfere with work, home, or your sanity! Maybe try looking for places that let you interview before committing. This way you can discuss what volunteer opportunities they offer and the group’s needs, and see if you think it would be a good fit.

At MAX, one of our employee benefits is a week’s worth of paid volunteer time.  Team members enjoy giving their time to organizations that are important to them.  You can read more about where they volunteer on this page of our website.

Where do you volunteer?  We would love to hear our members’ and agents’ volunteer stories.

Source:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/nextavenue/2016/05/11/how-to-find-the-ideal-place-to-volunteer/#55cfdae77c87

Terri photoAbout Terri

Terri is the Administrative Coordinator at MAX. She performs all administrative duties, and helps out in other areas of the company when needed. Outside of the office, she enjoys spending time with her husband, her children, two cats, and her extended family and friends. She is huge movie goer and an avid animal lover.