Peanut Butter Wars Spark Peanut Butter Burglary at ADS Security
11/25/2009
Nashville, TN – A quiet war made a final surge today at ADS Security (ADS). The ADS battle cry? “Rock the Crunch, Spread the Creamy and Feed the Needy.”
Nationwide, hunger is on the rise and the number of families in the U.S. needing food has jumped from 4 million to 17 million this year. Right here in Tennessee, about 1.2 million Tennesseans received food stamps in September, compared with 960,799 individuals during the same period last year — a nearly 22% increase in program participation.
In an effort to conquer hunger, Nashville-based ADS employees divided themselves into three teams, Goobers, Salmonella and PB Kings, to challenge each other to see who could bring in the most jars of peanut butter for the Second Harvest Food Bank (Second Harvest) of Middle Tennessee (www.secondharvestmidtn.org). Peanut butter is a non-perishable, high protein item in constant need at Second Harvest.
The friendly competition quickly took a turn, as the battle became heated and peanut butter burglars began to sabotage their competitors. Missing peanut butter jars mysteriously began to show up in potted plants, kitchen cabinets and mailboxes. The peanut butter burglars even moved some of their competitor’s peanut butter into their own collection bins, causing team members to threaten to install peanut butter surveillance cameras. Eventually, each team’s peanut butter jars were kept in an undisclosed location for security purposes, and the exact quantity was kept under wraps as the teams tried to conceal the amount of peanut butter they were collecting in order to win the competition.
To get ahead in the game, ADS employees teamed up with local grocery stores to get donations of peanut butter. Donations were made by ALDI, Food Lion, Kmart, Kroger, Publix and Sam’s Club.
The team that collected the most jars of peanut butter for Second Harvest would win a pizza party sponsored by Craig Leyers, General Manager, ADS (Nashville). “It’s not about the pizza… It’s about bragging rights and, ultimately, helping some folks in need,” said Marti Wornell, Branch Administrator, ADS (Nashville).
The heated contest wrapped up this afternoon, as the Salmonella’s (ADS Central Station) emerged as the winning team with 795 jars of peanut butter collected. Between the three teams, a total of 1,686 jars of peanut butter were donated and presented to Matthew Bourlakas, COO, Second Harvest of Middle Tennessee.
For more information about Second Harvest Food Bank or to locate a food bank in your area, please visit the Feeding America (formerly named America’s Second Harvest) website at www.feedingamerica.org.
For more photos on this story, visit the ADS Facebook Page.