About

What is Operation Food Basket?

Operation Food Basket is an annual campaign to feed hungry families in the Rochester New York metropolitan area during the year end holiday season. This is a critical time of year for many families in our area that do not have sufficient food for the holiday season. Operation Food Basket is a fully integrated campaign including:

Solicitation and collection of cash donations
Interaction with several charitable agencies that screen
and select the families to receive food deliveries
Purchase and packing of food cards for the families
Delivery of the food cards to the families

Who are the people of Operation Food Basket?

Operation Food Basket is supported by over 150 volunteers working on the campaign and over 1100 individuals and organizations that contribute funds. Xerox Employees, contract employees and Xerox retirees throughout Monroe County are the primary participants, however, an increasing number of Partner Organizations also participate significantly (see Operation Food Basket Partners section of this web site).

Operation Food Basket Partners

Operation Food Basket is supported by over 150 volunteers working annually on the campaign and over 1100 individuals and organizations that contribute funds, and the following community partners/organizations:

CaterTrax – cash donation
Hope Ventures – Cash donation
KPMG Employees – Cash donation
Lyons National Bank – Cash donation
Paychex – Cash donation and volunteer
Palmyra-Macedon Rotary – Cash donation and volunteer
Ryder Trucking – Transport materials
Wegmans Food Markets – Gift Card Donations
Xerox Foundation / XCIP – Cash grant and matching funds
Xerox Corporation – Volunteers and many support services for the campaign
Xerox Leadership Association – Cash grant and volunteers
American Packaging – gift cards donation
Ann Marie Carlisi Foundation – Cash donation
Matthews Auto – Cash donation
Visions Federal Credit Union – Cash donation
Anthony Carlisi Foundation – Cash donation

Campaign goals and key dates

Our goal for this year is to collect $45,000 in donations and provide food cards to 1,363 individuals.

Key dates are:

Fundraising: October 21 to December 7
Recruit volunteers: October 18 to December 7
Distribute food cards to families: December 14-15
Critical Note: This year we will continue purchasing and delivering of grocery gift cards to the families in-need, rather than the traditional process of hundreds of volunteers packing food boxes in a closed warehouse environment, delivering 50,000 pounds of food into 300+ homes. The individual families will receive funds sufficient to last about a week.

How can individuals or organizations get
involved in Operation Food Basket

Donate funds to the campaign this is our greatest need and something you can help with all year long
Volunteer to work on the campaign. See volunteer tab
Individuals and families that would like to receive food baskets may contact the charitable organizations that support Operation Food Basket to see if they qualify (see how to contact Operation Food Basket section of this web site)

Tax deductions for donations

For tax purposes, Operation Food Basket operates as a sub-committee of the House of Mercy in Rochester, New York. The House of Mercy is a certified 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization. Donors will receive tax receipts upon request. If you donate using PayPal please print your receipt.

The History of Operation Food Basket

Operation Food Basket started in 1981 and has been conducted annually since that time. It was started by a Xerox employee, Tony Carlisi who suggested to his fellow employees that the money spent on a $5 holiday grab bag gift exchange could be better used by buying and delivering food to needy families in the Rochester, NY area. Starting with a few dollars and few people, the campaign has grown to hundreds of volunteers who collect donations, buy, pack and deliver food directly to needy families just before Christmas.

The following chart shows the results of the campaign each year since its inception:

Year #	Year	$ Collected	# People receiving food provisions	# Families receiving food provisions	Total pounds of food given to families	Hot meals for homeless funded	of total meals provided
1	1981	$195	11	2	283		241
2	1982	$268	16	3	389		331
3	1983	$341	20	4	495		421
4	1984	$414	24	5	601		511
5	1985	$487	29	6	707		602
6	1986	$560	33	7	813		692
7	1987	$633	37	7	919		782
8	1988	$706	39	8	968		824
9	1989	$779	43	9	1,068		909
10	1990	$852	47	9	1,168		994
11	1991	$925	51	10	1,268		1,079
12	1992	$998	55	11	1,368		1,164
13	1993	$1,000	53	11	1,299		1,105
14	1994	$1,500	79	16	1,948		1,658
15	1995	$2,900	153	31	3,767		3,205
16	1996	$5,400	231	47	5,703		4,852
17	1997	$16,000	800	160	19,744		16,800
18	1998	$21,245	1,158	232	28,589		24,236
19	1999	$20,716	1,036	207	25,564		21,752
20	2000	$18,048	902	180	22,271		18,950
21	2001	$25,951	1,298	260	32,024		27,249
22	2002	$33,651	1,542	308	38,062		32,386
23	2003	$40,837	2,000	357	49,356		41,997
24	2004	$53,337	2,682	494	66,182		56,314
25	2005	$53,500	2,623	501	64,725		55,074
26	2006	$51,903	2,248	459	55,481		47,208
27	2007	$53,886	2,565	436	63,304		53,865
28	2008	$53,260	2,411	418	59,503		50,631
29	2009	$58,721	2,747	514	67,796		57,687
30	2010	$55,000	2,637	420	65,081		55,377
31	2011	$55,000	2,751	474	66,024		57,771
32	2012	$46,937	2,220	408	54,790		46,620
33	2013	$50,000	2,500	511	61,700		52,500
34	2014	$45,900	2,250	345	55,530		47,250
35	2015	$47,500	1,941	318	47,904		40,761
36	2016	$50,500	2,497	401	61,626		52,437
37	2017	$55,100	2,000	324	39,360	3,000	42,000
38	2018	$53,383	1,800	300	44,424	5,000	37,800
39	2019	$38,737	1,964	288	48,472	1,000	41,244
40	2020	$67,859	1,828	406	45,700	10,000	38,388
41	2021	$49,928	1,686	325	41,610	8,500	35,406
42	2022	$51,497	1,333	267	32,898	0	27,993
43	2023	$51,142	1,316	346	32,242	0	27,636
Total		$1,240,946	53,657	9,845	1,324,249	27,500	1,126,792