United Airlines workers carry on for Houston Food Bank
Mark Zessin is better known at George Bush Intercontinental Airport as the director of baggage handling systems for United Airlines. “I make sure bags that are checked get on airplanes,” he said.
But during the pandemic, he supervised a completely different line of duty. In just under three months, he and 1,200 of his United co-workers processed 2.2 million pounds of food for the Houston Food Bank through a pop-up distribution center at the airport.
The food bank is a longtime partner of the airline’s, so when the novel coronavirus crept up in March, Zessin asked the team what they needed. They had plenty of food, thanks to generous donors, but lacked enough space to process it all, and the number of volunteers had dropped because of the outbreak. Simultaneously, people around the city were losing jobs and in need of food.
Zessin realized he had both space and people.
United’s daily flight schedule from Bush fell from more than 500 flights to about 150, Zessin said. This meant employees were working fewer hours. It also meant they weren’t moving as much cargo and had extra facility space. When Zessin put out the call for volunteers, he got a great response.
“Of all the things I’ve done at United, this is the most rewarding,” said Zessin.
On April 8, the operation started. The volunteers took over four of United’s eight cargo bases, where trucks typically unload goods to be shipped by air. About 40 people per shift —
all masked and taking proper social distancing and sanitization precautions — worked three production lines.
The food bank delivered canned goods and produce to the airport. The volunteers unpacked then repackaged them into boxes and bags ready to distribute to families, loading them back onto pallets for the food bank team to pick up.
“We tried to make it a fun environment for people, we had the radio playing,” said Zessin, who thinks setting that vibe made people want to come back
and commit to regular volunteering shifts.
In total, they logged more than 18,500 volunteer hours. For the first couple weeks, they did this every day, then scaled back to Monday through Friday. The company set up an online sign-up system. There was a representative from the food bank there every day to guide the process. And Zessin had several supervisors help him coordinate every day.
He thinks people have gained crucial leadership skills through this effort. He has also learned a lot himself, about flexibility, adaptability and, most importantly, communication.
“It has to be a conversation, it can’t really be a one-way thing,” he says of dealing with day-to-day issues with his teammates. “Creating that culture is critical.”
The program ended on June 25. A week before, the United volunteers reached the 2 million pound mark. Zessin said he wanted to stop before the July 4 holiday and give everyone a breather. He hopes to work on another coordinated effort to help the Houston Food Bank in the near future but is unsure what form it will take yet.