“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.”
Winston Churchill’s words have been actualized by Hood Packaging in Hamlet.
Manufacturing Manager Stanley Hopkins and his team have truly proven that they are making a life by their work at the world-class packaging supplying corporation. The manufacturing plant produces multi-wall constructed paper bags that are distributed across the United States and Canada and used for products such as flour, sugar, pet food, and other staples.
(Warning: the following is an extremely heart-warming, tear-jerker of a story, so have the tissues (handkerchiefs) handy!)
A few weeks ago, a call came into their customer service line and Stanley was notified of the request from Richmond County Schools for bags for the school food delivery program. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic and students being out of school, the school system launched a program to provide meals to students through pick-up or delivery services. The school buses are running their normal routes to deliver these meals.
Stanley returned the call to Ronnie Norton from the school system nutrition department and learned that the bags they had were not usable and they were without bags to provide meals for students. He was so moved by the school system’s efforts to offer food to students at home during this crisis and knew he wanted Hood Packaging to assist in any way possible. He immediately prepped the machines and began manufacturing paper carrier bags. Initially, the schools were providing around 2,500 lunches per day, but has since then increased to around 5,000 per day. To date, Hood Packaging has contributed over 60,000 bags to the school system to aid their food program that is steadily increasing.
When praised for his efforts, Stanley said the praise goes to Richmond County Schools, we are just fortunate to be a part of such a wonderful program. Further expressing his gratitude, he said he is so thankful the school system contacted him, as he doesn’t have children at home and probably would not have known about the program otherwise.
“We are going to continue supporting this effort as long as we can,” he said.
We are so thankful to have Hood Packaging and their selfless leader, Stanley Hopkins, in Richmond County. Not only has this industry provided employment for so many of our residents, but now they are making an enormous impact on the students in our community. Today, we salute Stanley, Hood Packaging employees, and Richmond County Schools for epitomizing and honoring the Richmond County Schools motto, “Better Together.”
Meghann Lambeth is director of the Richmond County Tourism Development Authority. She is writing a series on how local industries are contributing to the COVID-19 effort, which will also be published at the Richmond Observer. You can read the original post here.
