SDC2016 Gives Back to Local Tampa Community

January 19, 2016

Hundreds of Tampa, FL’s neediest children will have food this weekend, thanks to the generosity of more than 200 volunteers in town for NBAA’s 2016 Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference (SDC2016).

Each year, SDC attendees do philanthropic work as part of their event, and this year they added Feeding America Tampa Bay to the list of local charities they support. In just 35 minutes, the volunteers packed about 800 bags of food for local children.

“This gives us a half an hour, an hour to just give back,” said Eve Gregory, with C&S Wholesale Grocers, who is chairing this year’s conference. SDC is now in its sixth year of giving back to its host community, Gregory said, and this is the first year that children have been the beneficiaries, as well as adults.

SDC2016 attendees lined up in the back of the Tampa Convention Center – which was still being set up prior to the opening of the conference – and filled bags with raisins, soup, cereal, applesauce and other food to get kids and their families through the weekend.

“It feels so good to be connected to something this wonderful,” said SDC2016 attendee and volunteer Mi Kosasa, vice president of marketing for Air Service Hawaii. “We wanted to help make a difference. You just want to be a part of it.”

Gregory said the committee received 215 donations through SDC2016 registration.

In addition to packing food, SDC2016 attendees are giving back through the Pay it Forward clothing drive – an event that’s taken place at the conference for six years. Attendees donate gently used business attire for area men and women needing work clothes. Before the conference even opened, 3,800 blouses worth about $75,000 had been collected, said Debbi Laux, a member of the S&D Advisory Council and director of trade relations and sales support with MedAire.

“It’s a fabulous opportunity to pay it forward,” she said. “[Attendees] embrace helping others.”