This story of charitable work begins with a holiday card.

Ever since risk and insurance solutions agency KMRD Partners wasstarted ten years ago, we would send holiday cards signed by everymember of the agency’s three offices in Pennsylvania to friendsevery holiday season.

Two years ago, KMRD Co-Founder Bob Dietzel and I decided wewanted to get closer to the true spirit of the season. Instead ofsending holiday wishes in envelopes, we wanted to deliver holidaygifts to families in need.

And we didn’t have to look far in our search for partners tofulfill our holiday wish.

We decided to help the families who turn to Keystone Opportunity Centerin Souderton, Pa., for aid. Keystone has a strong reputation forhousing the homeless in Upper Bucks and Montgomery Counties inPennsylvania, and operates a food pantry serving hundreds ofneighbors from across the Souderton Area School District. Wepartnered with our client Leidy’sSimply Delicious Pork, a maker of pork products that has beenin business for more than 100 years, to help feed the families inneed at Keystone.

For the past two years, Leidy’s has been preparing 36eight-pound spiral hams per week to be sent to Keystone. The hamsare delivered to Keystone by KMRD employees for six weeks, startingat the beginning of November, so families can have a centerpiecefor their holiday meals. This has amounted to 2,000 pounds of ham –enough to feed 250 families through the holiday season.

We are proud to be associated with Keystone Opportunity Center.As a member of this community, KMRD feels a responsibility anddesire to support others both financially and personally. We arealso grateful to Leidy’s for partnering with us on this program forthe past two years, setting an example for organizations to markthe holiday season in a meaningful way.

This holiday wish fulfillment initiative was the second of twoKMRD Partners events this past fall.

KMRD participated in a Feed MyStarving Children (FMSC) event held at Delaware Valley Collegein Doylestown, Pa., during the last week of October. FMSC sendsvolunteer-packed meals to more than 70 countries where they areused by orphanages, schools, clinics, and feeding programs to helpbreak the cycle of poverty. The Minnesota-based charity spends 92%of total donations directly on feeding the hungry and has earnedthe highest four-star rating from Charity Navigator for nineconsecutive years.

I was privileged as volunteer event coordinator to lead a teamof more than 1,000 volunteers from ages 8 to 80 at the secondannual FMSC MobilePack event, where meals are packaged for needyfamilies.

Our team packed 272,160 meals that included 11,000 pounds ofrice; 8,400 pounds of soy; and many bags of vitamins andvegetables. These meals were then sent to Sierra Leone and Liberiato support communities ravaged by the Ebola virus. Those meals willkeep 745 people alive for an entire year.

To top it off, that day our volunteers brought approximately1,200 pounds of food for local food pantry restocking.

We also decided to add some competitive fun to the event byincluding a corporate challenge that was accepted by localPennsylvania firms Contract Pharmacy Services, NFP, LaboratoryTesting Inc., and The Kennedy Family of Dealerships.

We hope our actions propel other businesses to get involvedlocally to do something good for someone in need. Company programscombining financial support with volunteer efforts boost morale andcamaraderie. We believe doing good as a company is good for yourcompany.