‘Operation Lunch Lady’ is a go
Conshohocken ad agency packs lunches for Manna on Main Street
A Conshohocken business whose slogan touts that it’s not a “paint-by-numbers” enterprise is proving that its approach to philanthropy is not by the book either.
Fingerpaint, an awardwinning marketing agency headquartered in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. with an office in Conshohocken, is addressing the potential hunger faced during the summer months by kids and families who rely on free and reduced lunch programs during the school year by embracing its “inner lunch lady.”
Having raised the necessary funds, Fingerpaint has partnered with Midwestern company The Pack Shack for its second Philanthropy Day, to purchase and assemble easy-to-prepare meals that will be donated to three food pantries in the communities surrounding Fingerpaint offices in Conshohocken, Saratoga Springs, New York, and Scottsdale, Arizona.
The non-perishable meals originating from the Conshohocken office will benefit Manna on Main Street in Lansdale, the wellknown non-profit organization dedicated to fighting hunger in the North Penn region, noted Fingerpaint spokesperson Bo Goliber.
“We wanted to do something as a company across all of our offices dedicated to our core value of philanthropy, and we usually choose a cause that is close to all of our hearts. This year we chose food insecurity as our cause,” Goliber explained. “What we’ll be doing is closing all of our offices and making meals for the food pantries. In Conshohocken it will stay in that area. The Pack Shack will provide the meals and set up the activities at each office and help us make the meals, facilitating the event and helping us to get the meals to each food pantry.”
“Operation Lunch Lady” will find the Fingerpaint staff slipping into lunch lady mode at the end of June by donning hairnets, aprons, and gloves and get to work preparing thousands of meals from dry ingredients, assembly linestyle. The assembly line will include funnels, with ingredients being poured into a funnel to fill a bag; scales (for accuracy); heat sealers and boxes for packing the meals.
Nearly 2,500 bags of food will be donated to Manna, providing more than 17,000 meals.
Overall, the company, founded by Ed Mitzen a decade ago, hopes to raise a total of $30,000 (including matching company funds) to tackle hunger, which will ultimately provide more than 65,000 meals across the country.
“The Pack Shack does this in such large volume it is able to provide the food at a really low cost, which saves organizations a lot of money,” Goliber said. “That lower cost allows us to provide more meals for the dollar. They work with really large companies and giant hospital systems and universities, and have had upwards of 500 or 1,000 people doing this all at once.”
Manna on Main Street will be sharing the food with the Montgomery County Anti-Hunger Network (MAHN), a collaboration of local pantries.
Paige Harker, Development Officer for Manna on Main Street said, “We are so grateful to Fingerpaint to come alongside Manna to help feed the hungry in our community. In Montgomery County, about 10 percent of our residents are considered food insecure and these neighbors are especially vulnerable during the summer time when school is out. While folks often go on vacation during the summer, hunger does not.”