Thankful for community partnerships

November is the time of year we all sit down at the table with our families, friends, and neighbors and give thanks. Reflecting on the past year, our office is thankful for the many strong partnerships we have in place and for new partnerships that will allow the Laboratory to be a stronger community partner in Northern New Mexico. 

Partnerships allow organizations with shared goals to accomplish more. This year, we have forged a new partnership with The Food Depot around the Laboratory’s annual food drive. Our employees donate more than 17,000 pounds of food every year in support of food pantries, shelters, and soup kitchens in the region. 

The week before Thanksgiving, we host “take your turkey to work day,” during which Laboratory employees bring frozen turkeys to work and hand them right through the car window to waiting volunteers. The Food Depot, which distributes food to nonprofit service providers in Northern New Mexico every day, will be on-hand to receive and then deliver the turkeys and non-perishable food items donated by Laboratory employees to organizations that serve families. 

This partnership allows both the Laboratory and The Food Depot to achieve our goal of providing healthy meals to families in need around the holiday season.  As a bonus to working together, this year families will receive items such as fresh fruits and vegetables and bread collected by The Food Depot from other donors. We are thankful for the opportunity to work together to make our communities stronger. 

—Kathy Keith, Director, Community Partnerships Office at Los Alamos National Laboratory