Press Releases

November 17, 2009
FRIENDLY EMPLOYEE COMPETITION FEEDS HUNGRY

FORT WAYNE, IN - November 17, 2009 - It started with an unusual yet creative idea from Rich Strozyk, Plant Manager of the Fort Wayne facility of FXI Foamex Innovations, at a monthly town hall meeting; a food drive with a twist. He proposed a race, Nascar style, between the departments and himself to see who could collect the most pounds of food for Community Harvest Food Bank. Simple enough, but to make it more interesting, pennies could be donated to the opposing teams to deduct pounds from their totals. Various prizes were collected for the winning team, and a trophy was made from foam. And so the “Race for the Barrel” began.

By week three, FXI employees had collected over 1,000 pounds of food and $100 in pennies. As the teams battled it out week to week with heartfelt enthusiasm and compassion for those in need, the food totals surpassed the two-ton mark.

“We often benefit from the generosity of individuals, but when an entire company rallies around our cause without being asked or solicited by us, that’s pretty extraordinary,” said Jane Avery, Executive Director of the Community Harvest Food Bank.

Then something even more extraordinary happened. FXI employees Jimmy Garza, Shawnn Burch, Rita Fish-Kryder, Greg Murphy and Keith Hill gathered together and decided to present the staff with a proposal: stop the competition and unite as a single FXI team. Forget prizes or a trophy; the satisfaction of knowing how many people they were helping was more than enough reward.

The final week arrived with the united team pushing harder than ever to do the most to fight hunger. In all, FXI raised a total of 7,493 pounds of food and $1,500. “You could feel the excitement in the air as the final barrels and cart loads were weighed and the money was counted,” said Strozyk. “It’s been a very heartwarming experience to see our team in Fort Wayne pull together and help those in need in the community,” he said.

“We appreciate the giving spirit of FXI team and are especially thankful for their support at this time of year given an economy that remains very challenging for so many,” Avery added.