HORSEHEADS, NY (WENY) -- Corning Incorporated and the Food Bank of the Southern Tier hosted their "Corning Leader of the Pack" event on Thursday, March 6th.  What at first the event looked like a friendly competition between coworkers, it was actually a bi-annual event that addressed food insecurity in the Twin Tiers. 

'"This is a great way to make awareness of [food insecurity] and also a great way for a community partner like Corning to do some team building, some teamwork and make awareness to food insecurity in the community," said Food Bank of the Southern Tier CEO and President Mark Bordeaum, adding "It's a great way for them to give back."

The competition supports the Food Bank's Backpack Program, which brings meals to 2,600 students across the Southern Tier. One hundred Corning Inc. employees were split up into ten teams, each team was tasked with filling bags with different food items. 

The goal was for each team to fill 480 bags, and the first team to do so won the competition. At the end of the day, 4,800 bags were ready to be sent out to kids and families across the area.

That is only a fraction of the backpacks expected to be given out by the Food Bank this year.  Last year, over 75,000 backpacks were distributed to those in need.

The "Leader of the Pack" event is one many Corning Inc. employees say they look forward to every year, including Pam Strollo, who participated in this event for the first time this year.

"Their geographic reach has expanded, I think we all see the expanding increasing food prices in our grocery stores," Strollo said, adding,  "So the need in our community is just so great, and the fact that this organization is here doing such good in our community is phenomenal," she continued."

 

  Food Bank of the Southern Tier

This year, the winning team was “RD & Eats."  

For more information on the Food Bank of the Southern Tier, and how you can get involved, you can visit their website here.