Happy holidays, joy to the world, peace and happiness to all! That was sincere and easy to say – if life were just that easy. With the challenges of work, family, local, national and world events it can be overwhelming and seemingly with no end in sight.
But, in my opinion we are blessed with much to be thankful for; if we stop, take a deep breath (several for many of us) and turn off the flood of incoming communication from every source for a period of time, then we can rest in the peace of how fortunate we are in many ways.
Stop and think about what is really important – good health, clean water, food, shelter – and meaningful relationships. I encourage you to be less performance driven (work, play, comparisons to others' "stuff" — just a few examples) for a few days and be thankful for what you do have. Plus, do all you can to help those that do not have good health, water, food, shelter and meaningful relationships. You will find helping others is a real gift – not just to them but many times a better gift for you. It feels good to give.
I was reading this morning about Operation Christmas Drop, the longest running humanitarian airlift in the world. It all started because people started helping people they did not even know.
Welcome to Operation Christmas Drop, the longest running humanitarian airlift operation in the world.
Each Christmas for the past 64 years, the Air Force has been parachuting donated gifts and humanitarian supplies to tiny islands dotting this vast area of the western Pacific.
The islands are the most remote islands on Earth. Christmas Drop is the most important day of the year for these people.
The operation traces its roots to Christmas 1952, when the crew of an Air Force B29 spotted people waving from the island of Kapingamarangi, some 3,500 miles southwest of Hawaii. In the spirit of the season, the crew gathered up a few items from the plane, attached a parachute and dropped the bundle to islanders below.
With an area of 1 square mile and a population of 300, Fais is one of the larger islands to receive the annual drops. The island, located 400 miles southwest of Guam, was heavily damaged by a typhoon in April, and this year's two bundles are especially appreciated.
When people ask me, "What does GA Foods do?", my short answer is we help those in need. We feed the elderly, children, our military and those hit by natural disasters. But we also employ about 330 team members, and hire approximately 75 temporary workers each day. We buy millions of dollars in food and supplies each year supporting over 100 suppliers around the country, and we pay millions of dollars in local, state and federal taxes every year.
Many of us choose to work at GA Foods because of who we are and what we do.
Here is our creed that was developed by team members, not a consultant:
I am GA Foods. I touch lives. I am committed to working as one team, united by a sense of ownership and guided by integrity and earned trust.
We believe this, we live by this, and I feel we are really blessed! Happy holidays, joy to the world, and peace and happiness to everyone.