Team Members Provide Meals for Oregon Wildfire Victims

Recent wildfires in the Pacific Northwest have resulted in no shortage of need in the community, and RDO Equipment Co.’s Oregon teams are finding opportunities to get involved and help. In early September, team members helped defend customers’ homes from approaching fires and recently, another group helped provide food for those displaced from their homes.

Parts Specialists Juanita Olsen and Roger Hudnut, Regional Sales Coordinator Missy Shepherd, and Missy’s mother took a trip to the Salvation Army in Salem, OR, where they served 400 dinners to individuals and families whose homes have either been destroyed or are still located within wildfire danger zones. After dishing up dinner, the group got a start on the next day’s work, packaging another 400 lunches meant for shelters in the area.

Juanita said she was motivated to volunteer after seeing friends and their families being directly affected by the fires – losing their homes or having to frantically pack belongings and run for safety.

“I wanted to help make a difference and make it possible for these families to have meals. I didn’t want them to feel any more stressed then they already are.”

In recent weeks, Salem’s Salvation Army Kroc Center has prepared thousands of meals for evacuees, relying on hundreds of hours from staff and volunteer to make it happen. For Juanita, the opportunity to get involved was a reminder of the positivity to be found in difficult times.

“Even during unfortunate situations, we can always find a way to help make it a little better,” she said. “I’m grateful that RDO knows how important helping others is and provides us Community Time to use for causes like this.”

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RDO Equipment Co. embodies a stakeholder philosophy, serving all those who make our business what it is. See the ways our team members impact the communities in which they work and live.