JESSUP, Pa. — Boxes of food are stacked up inside Dempsey Uniforms and Linen Supply in Jessup. Employees gathered this collection of donations for their annual Can Hunger initiative, donating to the Feed A Friend program.
In order to gather as many donations as possible, it turned into a competition, splitting employees into two teams: Team Chuck versus Team Judy.
"This Feed A Friend competition for us is led by two people who are not only long time Dempsey employees, but long time advocates for doing things for the community," said company vice president Kristen Dempsey.
Over the course of several weeks, team captains encourage donations of food or money to see who can be crowned the Can Hunger winner.
"To beat Chuck, that's my goal! I love it. I enjoy it," said team captain Judy Santarsiero.
This year, Team Judy came out on top in the competition that gets bigger and bigger each year.
"The nice thing is we raised almost 500 pounds more than we did the year before for a grand total of over 3,300 pounds," said P.J. Dempsey, the company president.
Dempsey employees say a little rivalry is good and they enjoy the camaraderie, but in the end, it's the community members who win because they're helping others and that's an even bigger prize.
"I think people forget how many people are still in need and food insecurity. And this is a time where our people who work so hard every day for the money they earn for their families, they still find a way to give to others," said Kristen.
Judy says they're already planning for next year and have set a hefty goal.
"I already talked it over with the other team leader and our goal was 4,000 next year. I asked him, I said, 'Do you want to do it as a combined thing?' No, they want to challenge and that's the goal," Santarsiero said.
Employees were treated to lunch for their efforts and members of the winning team received new hats.