Paul Riggins Giving Tree Program Supporting Gleaners Food Bank

The Paul Riggins Giving Tree Program is supporting Gleaners Food Bank again this year. Citizens’ Fundraising Team, which organizes the program each year, is challenging employees to raise $3,500 by December 31 through a virtual food drive. 

To contribute to the food drive, visit bit.ly/CitizensFoodDrive2021 and choose items as if you are placing an online grocery order. (Feel free to invite your friends and family to contribute by sharing the link with them!) The website demonstrates Gleaners’ buying power vs. shopping retail. For example, with your $5.40 donation, Gleaners can purchase a whole case of spaghetti sauce, which would likely cost more than $20 at a local grocery store!  

Every $1 Gleaners receives can be turned into up to five meals for those in need. Last year, we raised a little more than $3,100—enough to fund nearly 16,000 meals. Families are provided with fresh, healthy produce, protein-rich meats, and dairy, as well as shelf-stable items. 

Requesting financial donations, instead of asking employees to buy gifts for local families as we usually do, allows us to go back to the roots of the Raul Riggins Giving Tree Program. 

Ten days before Christmas in 1992, Paul Riggins, (seen in picture at right) who worked for Citizens as a machinist for 47 years, taped a $5 bill to the outline of a Christmas tree on the wall of the facility where he worked. Expecting that someone would take it, he vowed to give it to charity if it remained at the end of the week. To Riggins’ surprise, his coworkers began taping $1, $5, $10, $20, and even $50 bills to the wall to be given to charity.  

If you’d rather donate cash, you can do so just like Paul Riggins’ coworkers did 29 years ago—by taping bills to wooden trees across the company (see top picture). Trees can be found at the following locations: 

• Langsdale 1A outside Amy Myers’ office 
• White River Water Treatment Plant in the breakroom 
• Belmont outside the storeroom counter in the maintenance building 
• Perry K in the Admin area by Nick Kuntz’s office 

A Fundraising Team member will be monitoring and collecting donations taped to the trees.  

Gleaners also is seeking volunteers. If you’re interested in learning about available opportunities, visit gleaners.volunteerhub.com. 

Thank you for your support, and special thanks to Crit Crabtree, Manager of Facility Operations; Colleen Rose, Multimedia Specialist; and others for making the trees.