A City Electric Supply employee and a local organization have teamed up with Attack Poverty to host monthly food drives during the current pandemic, the latest was on August 22.
City Electric Supply is proud to share a team member’s commitment to helping those in need through his work with a local nonprofit organization. CES Pasadena Operations Manager Robert Stevens, along with 120 other volunteers, joined Attack Poverty food drive event this month at Katy Taylor High School in Katy, TX. Two weeks’ worth of groceries have been distributed to more than 500 families — over 1,500 people total.
“Some charities are very focused, but Attack Poverty is willing to open up and say, ‘We’ll try to do whatever you need us to do.’ That drew me in,” said Robert.
Roberts heard about Attack Poverty from another organization in the area, Brotherhood.
“I learned about Brotherhood from an ad Pernell Hill put on LinkedIn,” explained Stevens, who has harbored a passion for community outreach since he was a teen giving shoes and food to those in need, “and it was from Brotherhood that I heard about Attack Poverty.”
So after Roberts found Brotherhood and Brotherhood found Attack Poverty, and they all came together to serve the same community.
Just 14 days after COVID-19 hit, Attack Poverty turned seven of their centers into food distribution sites where they serve 100-300 individuals a day at each location. In the first two weeks, they served around 19,000 meals. Today, around 20 weeks into the pandemic, Attack Poverty has served 115,000 meals. The nonprofit also offers financial assistance — helping with rent as well as mortgage and utility bills for those struggling financially.
“When Harvey happened, we went to people’s doors and started helping,” said Ashley Cadis, Director of Development at Attack Poverty. “It’s been the same thing with COVID. In the last 20 weeks, we’ve served more people than in the past nine years combined.”
While the three partners, Roberts, Brotherhood, and Attack Poverty, make a strong team, they are not alone. Attack Poverty has had over 2,000 volunteers since the pandemic hit. They rely on people like CES Pasadena Operations Manager Robert Stevens and organizations like Brotherhood to help them in their mission to serve communities, and City Electric Supply couldn’t be happier to be a part of it.
“Companies like City Electric Supply help when we need collaborative efforts to help a community,” said Cadis. “It’s neat to know one of your employees volunteers.”
Partners assisting Attack Poverty in the upcoming event include Houston Food Bank, which is the biggest foodbank in the country, Feed the Hunger, Compassion Katy, and, of course, Stevens and Brotherhood.
Brotherhood, an organization for men from all walks of life who have a passion for impacting their communities, is particularly excited to lend a hand.
“We are fortunate to live in a city with a number of different organizations that address the needs in our community — Attack Poverty being one of them,” said Pernell Hill with Brotherhood.
Attack Poverty is nearing its 10-year anniversary, never straying from its mission to serve communities through asset-based community development.
“We walk alongside communities, partnering with businesses, schools, and organizations, to empower them,” explained Jason Hall, Director of Church Mobilization at Attack Poverty. “We do community listenings to assess both the needs and the assets of an area, but we don’t see it as ‘How can we help?’ as much as ‘How can we empower people to embrace their own communities?’”
City Electric Supply encourages its over 3,000 employees across the country to give back to causes they truly care about, causes like Attack Poverty’s mission, through its social impact division called CES Cares. Employees like Stevens who actively volunteer have the opportunity to be rewarded for their work.
“We like to show support with our Dollars for Doers program by rewarding volunteers for their time. You just have to log a minimum of 10 hours on the CES Cares website, and CES will award you $100 to donate to the charity of your choice,” commented CES Cares Social Impact Manager Karen Gray. “CES Cares is so proud of what Roberts is doing to help his community.”
“I just recently learned about CES Cares,” said Stevens. “I didn’t know that you could keep track of the hours you spend in your community and earn donations from it. I think that’s great, and I definitely want to start using my time with Attack Poverty for that. It feels good knowing that even in the time you spend volunteering, your company will back you up. You might not be able to donate your own money, but CES can help, and that’s a significant benefit.”
About City Electric Supply (CES) is a family-owned electrical wholesale distributor headquartered in Dallas, Texas. The company was founded in 1951 by Tom Mackie in the United Kingdom and expanded to the United States in 1983. Today, CES employs more than 3,000 people in over 500 branches across the U.S.
CES is dedicated to providing personalized service and support for customers in the residential, commercial, and industrial marketplace. While CES is a large company, it prides itself in keeping its founding principle of empowering people to make local business decisions by providing customers tailored services for all their electric supply needs.