Sealed With a (Llama) Kiss: Engineering Directorate Delivers a Truckload of Goods for Feds Feed Families

by Linda Grimm | 2023-08-31

When employees at NASA’s Johnson Space Center came together for the 2023 Feds Feed Families (FFF) campaign’s culminating Stuff the Truck event on August 25, they may have expected to see one truck parked outside of the Gilruth Center. Instead, many of them saw two.

The second truck was provided by Johnson’s Engineering Directorate, which banded together to collect 140,860 pounds of food for local food banks and pantries – an amazing amount that surpassed the center’s overall goal of 100,000 pounds and accounted for more than half of the total contributions received from all Johnson team members.

A group of people unloads a white delivery truck with a banner on the side reading JSC Engineering Stuff the Truck. — The Engineering Directorate truck pulls up to the Feds Feed Families Stuff the Truck event at NASA’s Johnson Space Center on Aug. 25, 2023. **Credit: NASA/Riley McClenaghan**

The directorate participates in numerous charitable efforts, but leadership typically emphasizes one major donation drive each year. For 2023, Engineering Director Julie Kramer White decided to highlight FFF. “It’s always a popular initiative, so we thought we’d put the focus on something that people feel strongly about,” she said. The team also recalled the many challenges the local community faced during Hurricane Harvey and how food banks and pantries struggled to meet the tremendous needs of that difficult time. “The local food banks are a critical resource for many folks in our community,” said Kramer White. “Especially as we enter hurricane season and pass the sixth anniversary of Hurricane Harvey, we need to remember this is important for the whole community.”

A group of people unload boxes from a white delivery truck on a sunny day. — Engineering Directorate staff unload their contributions to the 2023 Feds Feed Families campaign at NASA’s Johnson Space Center Stuff the Truck event. **Credit: NASA/Riley McClenaghan**

From the beginning of the campaign, Kramer White challenged staff to match Johnson’s goal and encouraged them to come up with creative ways to rise to the occasion. The directorate’s lead FFF champions, mechanical engineer Daniel Petersen and systems engineer Beth Sheridan, came up with the idea to host an engineering-only Stuff the Truck event and devised a friendly competition to help motivate employee giving. Engineering divisions were split into two teams, with one backing Kramer White and the other behind Deputy Director Gerald “Jay” LeBeau. The losing leader pledged to kiss a stuffed llama at the end of the campaign. Organizers decided on this ‘penalty’ after Kramer White said she would do anything but kiss a pig or get dunked in a dunk tank.

Two women pose for a selfie in front of a white delivery truck marked JSC Engineering Stuff the Truck. — Engineering Director Julie Kramer White takes a selfie with NASA’s Johnson Space Center Associate Director Donna Shafer. **Credit: NASA/Riley McClenaghan**

The light-hearted competition inspired the entire engineering team to action. Each division had its own FFF champion who came up with unique challenges to boost employee giving. In Sheridan’s division, for example, employees earned raffle tickets for the chance to win special prizes. The more a team member donated, the more tickets they received. FFF champions sent multiple reminder emails and status updates on the Team Julie versus Team Jay competition each week. They also promoted the campaign during weekly staff meetings, in team tags, and the directorate’s weekly activity report. A convenient donation station at one of engineering’s buildings made it easy for employees to drop items off on their way to work. The directorate also hosted a special event at the Gilruth Center the night before Stuff the Truck that was both a final opportunity for employees to donate and a fun celebration of all they had accomplished.

A group of men and women pose for a photo in front of a white delivery truck marked JSC Engineering Stuff the Truck. — John Smith, Propulsion & Power Division intern; Tayera Ellis, Gateway program executive officer and centerwide lead for the 2023 Feds Feed Families campaign; Donna Shafer, NASA’s Johnson Space Center associate director; Dan Petersen, Structural Engineering Division mechanical engineer; Julie Kramer White, engineering director; and Ruben Zavala, Test & Operations Office experimental manufacturing engineer, stand in front of the Engineering Directorate truck. **Credit: NASA/Riley McClenaghan**

Sheridan characterized the directorate’s efforts as an internal implementation of the spirit behind Johnson’s Dare | Unite | Explore. “Let’s dare to challenge ourselves to do this and figure out what can we do to get there together,” she said.

In the end, Team Julie contributed 66,717 pounds of food, compared to Team Jay’s 74,143-pound donation. “I am really proud of the whole team - civil servants and contractors - that contributed to our awesome performance,” said Kramer White. “It’s always great to see what our team accomplishes when they come together to achieve a goal! We are already taking lessons learned from this year to increase our participation and total contributions for next year.”