ABB employees have a history of supporting our communities impacted by disasters, and the coronavirus pandemic is no exception. In addition to R&D engineers using 3D printing technology to manufacture face shields, ABB employees have taken on another challenge brought on by stay-at-home orders: food insecurity.

Some of the people most at risk for COVID-19, such as the elderly and those with other health conditions, are often homebound and already rely on others to bring them groceries. Families, too, are being impacted in unexpected ways. Young children aren’t in classrooms, so they’re not being fed at school and parents have to pick up the slack even as they face potential layoffs, furloughs or reductions in work hours.

Meanwhile, food banks are experiencing a reduction in supply from grocery stores, due to an increase in demand from consumers, and they’re working with fewer volunteers to sort, pack and deliver food.

Enter, the ABB Virtual Food Drive.

ABB employees in 40 states contributed $82,967 to local food banks via food charity Feeding America. Their donations will be matched by the company’s philanthropic arm, ABB Foundation, bringing the total raised to $165,934.

For Atlanta-based Kevin McGraw, a Design Assist Sales Manager-Field Application Engineer, giving to the Virtual Food Drive was a no-brainer.

“I was always taught it’s a blessing to be a blessing,” he says. “I will always donate to a good cause.”

ABB has also donated more than $1m to the International Committee of the Red Cross in support of coronavirus relief efforts, with employees around the world contributing another $230,000.

“At ABB it is part of our core values of safety and integrity. We call it ‘Don’t look the other way’,” says Mary Jane Weir, Business Excellence Manager in ABB’s Electrification Business. “We can’t ignore the fact that there are others in need, especially at this time.  If we have the capacity to donate, we should.”