The Potandon Foundation Awards its 2015 Recipients

This year’s recipients of The Potandon Foundation were presented checks at the Potandon Produce Idaho Falls office.  In attendance was Stacy McAlevy, representing CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates) a local group which supports the legal needs of abused and neglected children in the Idaho court system.  Kristin Sanger from the Snake River Animal Shelter was also present and she spoke for several moments on how the shelter provides relief by re-housing pets and sheltering domestic animals across the Snake River Plain.  Their efforts keep animals from being destroyed until they can find new families. Idaho Legal Aid was also awarded funding, and Joe Earnest represented them in the brief ceremony.  The group offers legal advice and assistance for low income families, victims of domestic abuse, and divorce and custody cases.  The Bingham Crisis Center was represented by Kary Ledbetter, who expressed thanks to Potandon for their support.  The center offers victims of domestic violence or sexual assault shelter, material goods, advice on counselling, and other needed aid.  Also awarded a grant was the Idaho Diabetes Youth Program, however due to scheduling they were unable to attend.

The Potandon Foundation is a charitable organization established by Potandon Produce in 2012; managed by the Idaho Community Foundation. With an initial donation of $5,000 from the company and voluntary on-going donations from the employees, the Foundation has raised nearly $30,000 to date, according to company officials.  Recipients of the foundation money are local organizations who exemplify serving the citizens of Idaho in various ways.

The Potandon Foundation has supported many other local organizations in the past, including the Goodfellow Fund, Help, Inc., Idaho Falls Community Outreach, The Idaho Meth Project, Race to Feed the Hungry, and the Idaho Falls Food Bank.  Funding from the Foundation goes to support clothing needs, household goods, and sponsorships for local kids to attend summer camp, computers, legal assistance, operational support, and food for Idaho citizens who need a helping hand, company officials add.

The culture of community stewardship is strong at Potandon Produce as shown by the efforts of the employees who voluntarily offer their time, some of their wages, and their help to many local organizations, say officiails. In the past, Potandon employees served hot meals to homeless people at the City of Refuge a local shelter, made food donations to various local charities through office canned food drives, provide Christmas gifts for families staying at the Haven, a local family shelter, and have a regular hat, coat, and glove drive to help people prepare for winter just to name a few. Carly High, HR coordinator at Potandon says, “The employees at Potandon really get it.  They enthusiastically help others and ask no recognition for it.”