Contributed by Delaware Manufacturing Association member, Speakman Co.

With the upcoming holiday season, Sunday Breakfast Mission is hosting their annual food drive, which runs until the end of the year. They provide food to homeless men, women and children, as well impoverished individuals and families who do not have a secure source of food. Sunday Breakfast Mission has been providing for the homeless, hungry, and hurting in New Castle County for 125 years. The foundation seeks to treat those who are in the most need with dignity.

The goal of the annual food drive is to collect enough food items to provide the community with 120,000 meals. A portion of those meals will be distributed to 1,500 families the week of Thanksgiving and 1,000 individuals will receive Thanksgiving dinner on Thanksgiving Day.  The remainder of the food is utilized in providing nightly community meals, and in assembling food boxes to those in need during the year. 

Anyone who would like to participate in the food drive is welcome to donate items such as boxed stuffing mix, pasta, and canned vegetables or soups. See below for a full list of possible donations. Just one standard grocery bag of food provides the foundation with enough to give 10 to 15 meals to a family facing food insecurity. Food can be taken to any WSFS branch location in Delaware, as well the Sunday Breakfast Mission located at 110 N Poplar Street, Wilmington, DE 19801. Additional information about the food drive can be found here, and financial donations are welcome here. 
 
Donation Ideas:

• Boxed Stuffing Mix
• Spaghetti Sauce
• Boxed Cereal
• Canned Tomatoes
• Canned Vegetables Canned Beef Stew
• Canned Fruit
• Canned Meats
• Canned Soup
• Canned Beefaroni
• Canned Yams
• Canned Ravioli
• Canned Cranberry Sauce
• Canned Tuna
• Canned Gravy or Mix
• Peanut Butter
• Pie Fillings
• Jelly
• Instant Pudding & Jello
• Pasta
• Instant Potatoes Drink Mix
• Mac and Cheese
• Baby Food

Superstar in Education winner William Penn High School hosted elected officials, faculty and staff, students and parents, and other community guests, at Historic Penn Farm on Tuesday, October 3. Serving food made with ingredients from their farm, the school held a reception in the barn at Penn Farm, where the school’s community supported agriculture (CSA) program, Farm to School, is housed. Following the reception, a pollinator field, made possible with financial support from DuPont, was celebrated with a wildflower seed toss.
 
The pollinator field, along with a transparent bee hive shed with a transparent viewing wall, was presented to the school by way of a $5,000 grant from DuPont. DuPont surprised the school and event attendees with the check at the Chamber’s annual Superstars in Education Awards ceremony on May 8, 2017, where William Penn High School was being recognized for their Farm to School program. 
 
It is DuPont’s hope that the hive will provide a save learning environment for apiary studies, while expanding on current honey harvesting operations. The pollinator field will allow students an interactive learning experience in horticulture, as well as serve as local point of interest for the community. The field, dedicated as ‘Mrs. Pickard’s Field of Dreams’, was named for the school’s agriculture teacher, Kathleen Pickard.
 
DuPont was impressed with the winning application’s demonstration of collaboration with multiple organizations – William Penn High School and the Colonial School District, Delaware Greenways and the Historic Penn Farm, University of Delaware, and New Castle County Commons – and even collaboration within the school, as the program engages students from agricultural, business, environmental and culinary disciplines.
 
Additionally, PJ Simon, Manager, Academic Outreach (North America), says, “This program checks many boxes. The students are learning skills in an oftentimes overlooked trade; instruction is hands-on and engaging, resulting in increased attendance and test scores; students gain a clear understanding of potential career paths; and the program has even reinvigorated the careers of the teachers.”

by Mark DiMaio

On Wednesday, October 4, the PPG Dover plant marked National Manufacturing Day (October 6, 2017) by welcoming Dover High School students that participate in the Delaware Technical Community College’s Advanced Manufacturing Pathways Program to the facility. The students, along with instructors and representatives from the Delaware Manufacturing Extension Partnership (DEMEP), toured PPG Dover and heard presentations about the plant’s processes and products.  

“National Manufacturing Day is exciting for PPG because it presents an opportunity to show students and community members what a manufacturing plant is really like,” said Neal Nicastro, PPG plant manager, Dover. “We will educate the students about the advances in science and technology that have transformed manufacturing into a great industry with many career options.”

This is the PPG Dover plant’s fourth year hosting an event with local students for National Manufacturing Day - an initiative organized by the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) to address the skilled labor shortage, connect with future generations of manufacturers and ensure the success of the manufacturing industry. The PPG Dover facility, which employs approximately 80 people, makes interior and exterior paint for residential and commercial applications under the OLYMPIC®, PPG PITTSBURGH PAINTS® and PPG PORTER PAINTS® brands.