By Jamar Baker, Financial Consultant & Aspire Member
Aspire, Fidelity’s Latino and Black employee resource group, has created a charitable food drive designed to support disadvantaged communities that have been further disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and economic recession.
The food drive began in December 2020 from witnessing that certain Latino communities around our country were in crisis from higher COVID-19 rates and unemployment. Latino Americans have been three times more likely to contract COVID-19 (Center for disease Control and Prevention). As the United States locked down amid COVID-19, the unemployment rate for Hispanics increased from 4.8% in February to a peak of 18.5% in April 2020 leaving many families in a crisis (Pew Research Center). This prompted us to create a food fight that Fidelity employees could be involved in.
In the Central South, 17 Hispanic Centers were located to help these communities. In the Northeast and the West regions, finding specific foodbanks that support LatinX communities was not as prominent. We decided we would run the drive for the entire quarter, supporting those in need when the holiday drives have depleted.
The great part about the food fight is that any staff member at Fidelity can support the Hispanic community and other communities in need through their Fidelity Charitable account. The friendly competition internally motivated more and more staff to give selflessly to bring in more donations for their state with the ultimate winner being the community. In the Northeast, our Market Leaders went head to head in a competition to see who could be the most philanthropic. This gave people a feel-good way to compete safely, while supporting those in need during such a tough time. While Fidelity has been hiring more and more, other companies were shutting down. This allows us to make a statement and help those less fortunate.
The food drive began with the Hispanic community and grew to serve all communities in several more states. There is still time to get involved through this link.
The food is set to conclude on March 31, 2021. Upon conclusion of the food fight, the donations will ship to the communities in need, to be distributed by the charitable centers around the country. Many of these resources will go to homeless families, unemployed and underserved persons in our communities. The food fight to date has raised over 13,000 meals valued at over $50,000 for families in our communities.
