Collaboration is at the heart of the fight against hunger. In Los Angeles County, an estimated two million people face food or nutrition insecurity. The collective efforts to help provide nutritious food resources to our neighbors include corporate partnerships that bolster the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank initiatives and 600 nonprofit partner agencies across LA County to maximize impact and reach. One corporate partnership includes US Bank, which encourages its employees to deepen community engagement and involvement by volunteering to support nonprofit organizations where their passions lie. 

Raphael Santos, a small business market analyst at US Bank, chose the Food Bank as one of the charities to which he devoted his volunteer time. “I’m fortunate to work for a company that gives paid time for its employees to volunteer,” he says. 

“Being their volunteer champion, I wanted to lead by example and inspire the team. I wanted to take on 100 hours by myself, and I’ve been fortunate enough to have a team to support me in reaching that goal.” 

Related: The Health Benefits of Volunteering at the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank

While US Bank provides 16 paid hours per year for volunteers to volunteer at their nonprofit of choice, Raphael has far exceeded that. He has reached over 100 hours, 30 of which were generated at the Food Bank, where he contributed to building about 10,000 food kits for our neighbors. 

What resonated with Raphael was the Food Bank’s mission to help alleviate hunger across LA County. Raphael recalls his humble beginnings in LA with his family. At the time, his parents had newly immigrated from the Philippines. They utilized community resources such as the Woman Infant and Children (WIC) Program, which is why he gives back to his community when he can. 

“When I’m in the position to be able to give back maybe not monetarily but be able to give back my time, where I can make an impact in such a short amount of time where you can make over a thousand food kits in 2-3 hours – that’s families that you can reach by giving back. 

The Food Bank commends Raphael and the tens of thousands of other volunteers who generously donate their time at the Food Bank yearly, as we cannot carry out our work without engaged community members. Join Raphael and the numerous other hunger heroes today!

“I encourage everyone to volunteer at the LA Regional Food Bank because of their growth in such a short amount of time. Their impact in just a few hours of volunteering is massive.”