Helping Hands Day

As we head into the holidays and count down the final days to a new year, we enter a fun and rewarding season of giving at Applied Materials where employees connect with community issues and come together to help those in need.

Applied Materials employees were inspired to give during this year’s Food Drive, resulting in $2.3 million raised for food banks across the U.S.

During this traditional season of giving, Applied Materials and our employees are committed to making a local impact.

Over the past 20 years, Applied Materials employees have packed an impressive 78,000 boxes with more than 25 million pounds of food to help alleviate hunger in Silicon Valley.

It was truly a sight to see more than 200 of our employees and their families all gathered at Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties on Saturday morning. What were they all doing? Packing 6,000 boxes of nutritious meals at Applied Materials' 18th annual Helping Hands Day for delivery to individuals and families in need in Silicon Valley during the holidays.

The holiday spirit was in full effect at Applied Materials’ 17th annual Helping Hands Day this past Saturday morning.  Chairman and CEO Mike Splinter joined approximately 300 employees and their families (Santa hats and reindeer antlers optional) at Second Harvest of Santa Clara and San Mateo’s new Cypress Center where they continued Applied’s long-standing tradition of helping assemble and pack 6,000 boxes of food.

Congratulations to Applied Materials group vice president for Human Resources Mary Humiston, who was named one of the Silicon Valley Business Journal's "2011 Women of Influence" as one of 100 women from the public, private and nonprofit sectors who are working to improve their industries and communities. 

For the third year in a row, Applied Materials' annual employee food drive has directed more than $1 million dollars to non-profit agencies focused on hunger relief.  This will enable 34 organizations across the United States to distribute more than 2 million meals to families in need. You can read the full details on our website.

Applied Materials has been conducting one of the largest corporate food drives for 27 years. This year marked the 15th anniversary of one of the Food Drive’s signature events – Helping Hands Day. Over the 15 years, more than 50,000 boxes of food have been delivered to local families in San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties. The outcome of this past weekends activity is significant: 5,200 boxes containing 325,000 pounds of food that will provide 254,000 meals.