The season of giving begins

As the kids head back to school, the air becomes increasingly more crisp and the cottonwoods along the Rio Grande start strutting their color, employees at Los Alamos National Laboratory gear up for a season of giving.  From August through December, we will call upon Laboratory employees to contribute to the region. It is a pleasure to see how generously Laboratory employees give to support children, the elderly, and our communities.

We recently wrapped-up the Laboratory’s Annual Back-to-School Drive during which our employees and community partners provided backpacks and shoes to elementary and middle school students. We are proud that together we delivered more than 900 backpacks and 325 pairs of shoes to 17 school districts and youth organizations in Northern New Mexico, making it one of our most successful drives to date. 

In addition to the Laboratory employees who donated backpacks and contributed for shoes, Laboratory subcontractors Abba Technologies, Verizon Wireless, and community partner Dollars4Schools made donations towards the purchase of backpacks and shoes. Our partners at Century Bank, Del Norte Credit Union, and Smith’s asked their employees to give backpacks as well and provided donation boxes for the general public. And our partners at the Los Alamos Juvenile Justice Advisory Board and Self-Help Los Alamos for providing school supplies. Partnerships like these, between different organizations with common goals, allow us to do more for the students we all want to have a great start to the school year. 

Preparations start now for our food drive in which we ask Laboratory employees to contribute non-perishable items and frozen turkeys. We then partner with many different non-profit agencies that provide food to those in need to distribute donations throughout the region.

Finally, as the year comes to an end, we will ask Laboratory employees to provide gifts to children, the elderly, and those at homeless shelters. Last year, our employees fulfilled the wishes of more than 1,200 individuals. 

Although we try and thank all who give to these drives, many of our employees choose to remain anonymous. If you have a friend, neighbor, or relative who is a Laboratory employee, or works for one of our partners, please feel free to mention your awareness of our season of giving and pass along your sentiments for their donations and support.  

—Kathy Keith

Director, Community Partnerships Office