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| TI employee Lillian Griggs won a 2012 TI Founders Community Service Award for her dedication to volunteering in the community. |
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TI employee Lillian Griggs is passionate about making sure struggling families in her San Jose, CA community have nutritious food available to them on a regular basis.
Through her support and leadership, the Sacred Heart Community Service's Produce Bagging Program has provided 10,000 people a full bag of fresh produce every Saturday during the past four years. Griggs manages the volunteers who put together approximately 6,000 pounds of produce each week. This produce fills between 1,800 and 2,000 bags that go directly to individuals and families in need.
When Griggs became a regular volunteer at Sacred Heart in 2008, the produce bagging program was lacking structure. The volunteers didn't know what to do and the system in place was not efficient. Shortly after she started to volunteer, the produce coordinator left and Griggs stepped up. She developed a system that works like an assembly line and sets up work stations that give the volunteers an opportunity to bag the produce in an efficient and comfortable way.
"Lillian is an extremely important member of our volunteer community," said Chad Harris, Essential Services Director, Sacred Heart Community Service.
"Every week, Lillian inspires dozens of volunteers to prepare thousands of produce bags that we give out each day through our Pantry. She has taken such ownership over her work at Sacred Heart that other volunteers have joined our ranks of 'regulars' coming every Saturday just to be a part of the team that she has created."
What special skills or experience have you acquired through volunteering?
"As a volunteer, I've been able to develop my leadership skills and offer advice to the nonprofit's leaders. They didn't have many processes in place and they allowed me to step up as a leader and create new ones. They value the program leads and ask for our opinions."
What does winning this award mean to you?
"Winning this award means I can help a lot of people in need. I'm proud to give the money to Sacred Heart so they can use it for their different programs. I really thank TI for nominating me and for making the $1,000 donation possible. This is fabulous!"
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An avid volunteer
Griggs, an accounting assistant in TI's Silicon Valley Analog group, has been an avid volunteer for years. She started to volunteer for the Sacred Heart Community Service Pantry Program for five hours every Saturday and eight to 10 hours a week during the holidays after her husband, Bill, passed away in 2008. Since then, she has increased her volunteer time to more than 250 hours a year.
"I want to inspire people by example," Griggs said. "It's my passion and I truly believe in Sacred Heart's mission to build a community free of poverty. I've met some great people there and I enjoy working with them. That's why I do what I do!"
In addition to her volunteer service, Lillian has demonstrated her leadership and compassion at Texas Instruments/National Semiconductor for 32 years. During the past 18 years, she has led the gift sorting process at the company's annual Holiday Workshop, organized and cooked for many department potlucks and run the company's softball league.
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