A major initiative for Upper Deck President Jason Masherah is to see Upper Deck more involved in serving our community. Much has been made of Upper Deck’s philanthropic efforts like the Heroic Inspirations program, but employees are also very active in volunteering in the community as well. Programs like Trick or Trade with law enforcement & Rady Children’s Hospital will be returning soon. Upper Deck has also made it a point to help out charities like Defending the Blue Line to help military families. And most recently, staff made time to help out the Feeding America charity.

Many staff members made their way to volunteer at Feeding America San Diego. Feeding America is the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity whose mission is to feed America’s hungry through a nationwide network of member food banks working to end hunger in our country.

Feeding America allows volunteers to help with the reclamation process. This process is the sorting of food that has been pulled from grocery store shelves and is heading to the landfill, even though 60% of it is still perfectly good to eat. The reclamation steps include checking integrity of the packaging, comparing printed “best by” date to extended expiration and sorting the food by shape and size – all while keeping nutrition and food safety in mind.

During the afternoon that Upper Deck employees volunteered their time, there was over 1200 pounds of food sorted – this provided approximately 720 meals served. In addition, they also helped with the recycling process of expired foods and recycled over 300 pounds of materials.

“As an AmeriCorps alumni, I think it is great that Upper Deck as company gives back to the community & allows employees to volunteer their time for such a great cause,” says Michael Jackson, art director for Upper Deck.

If you are interested in learning more about Feeding America & how you can become a volunteer, check out their website at: http://feedingamerica.org/