Buckets of Joy: $22,000 and Tons of Food Collected Nationwide for Those in Need

Building up and bettering the communities and neighborhoods we serve is important to our company and team members. This past holiday season, EquipmentShare employees joined forces with members of the community, charitable organizations and customers to make a difference in the lives of others through its “Buckets of Joy” initiative. 

The initiative included EquipmentShare’s second annual public holiday drive-through light display “Santa’s Work Crew”, which was held at the corporate headquarters in Columbia, Mo., from December 15 to 18. Members of the public visited the light show with their families to see magical machines, rein”steers”, elves busy at work and the big guy himself – Construction Claus, the head contractor. Visitors were asked to donate a minimum of $5 and to bring non-perishable food items. In total, around 3,000 vehicles drove through the light show and donated $5,347 as well as more than 2,000 pounds, or 20 barrels, of food to benefit the Voluntary Action Center (VAC) Holiday Family Program and The Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri. The food donations will be used to feed families and individuals experiencing food insecurity throughout Boone County, Mo. 

“Last year, the community raised $4,000 for the holiday program and donated 1,462 pounds of food at our light show event,” Danielle Schlacks, member of EquipmentShare’s executive support team, said. “This year, we wanted to beat that record and help VAC and the Food Bank provide even more essential resources to our neighbors this holiday season. That’s what this event is about, and we can’t thank the community enough for their donations.”

Across the country, our branches participated in the “Buckets of Joy” challenge – a branch wide food, coat and toy drive competition. For each bucket filled, the branch could write a $500 check to the organization in their community serving those most in need, such as food banks and shelters. These efforts resulted in 44 loading buckets full of non-perishable food items and coats as well as $22,000 in donations.

The branch that filled the most buckets and raised the most money was our Tulsa, Okla., branch. The Tulsa team filled six buckets and donated $3,000 to the Salvation Army-Tulsa Area Command & Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. The Beaumont, Texas branch came in second, filling four buckets and donating $2,000 to Southeast Texas Food Bank.

“Equipment Share does lots of great things to take care of our employees, so we felt we needed to do our part to help our community,” Wes Boling, Tulsa General Manager said. “I didn’t have to do much to motivate the team, I just told them about it and our folks here did all the work! I’m very proud of our Tulsa team.”

In total, the overall Buckets of Joy initiative raised more than $22,000 and collected tons of food to help those most in need. We want to thank our incredible team members, customers and local partners for helping us build a brighter holiday for so many.