ALABASTER, Ala., April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- A year ago at the
Presidents' Summit for America's Future, the call went out across the
country to increase the number of volunteers and volunteer hours
devoted to youth. A year later, many companies, organizations and
people have answered the call.
There are many outstanding examples of volunteers who have
stepped up, but in the state of Alabama, there may not be a better one
than Alabasters Don Smith, a UPS employee, who, in 1988, formed Manna
Ministries, a nonprofit organization that collects and distributes food
to people throughout Shelby County.
-- Today, Manna Ministries serves an average of 400 families per
month.
-- For the last 10 years, Smith and his family have operated
Manna Ministries out of their home, cramming large freezers into
their small basement. As of April 1998, the Smith's moved their
operation to a warehouse facility.
-- Smith has expanded his outreach to seven communities within Shelby
County. He has coordinators in place in each community to organize
local efforts.
-- Smith would someday like to establish mobile food units so that his
organization can deliver hot meals to recipients.
-- Smith is the 1998 recipient of the Jim Casey Community Service
Award, UPS's internal award for outstanding employee volunteers,
named after the company's founder.
Please call the listed contacts if you are interested in speaking
with Smith or hearing about UPS' Neighbor-to-Neighbor Program, which matches
employees willing to volunteer with local agencies. Also available is
information on the results of a national survey on volunteerism sponsored by
The UPS Foundation.
SOURCE United Parcel Service
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CONTACT: Mary Johnson, 314-982-8669, or Mark Niebling, 314-982-0576, both of Fleishman-Hillard
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