Community Service

Community Service

Surgeons Worth Their Weight in Peanut Butter for Food Bank


	Dr. Patch Dellinger, chief of the UW Division of General Surgery, helps stack donated jars of peanut butter for the food bank.

As the 2002 holiday season approached, staff at UW Medicine's Division of General Surgery pondered ways to help people in need. Their brainchild was the first annual "Operation: Peanut Butter" drive for Northwest Harvest, a charitable organization fighting hunger in Washington State.

Why peanut butter? It is a good source of protein, vitamins and minerals, and one of the most needed items at local food banks.

"Besides we thought it would be fun to collect because everybody likes peanut butter," said Rosemary Mitchell, research coordinator.

With a hefty goal of 2,512 pounds of peanut butter, the unscientifically estimated combined weights of the 13 surgeons on staff, and three short weeks to reach it, the push for peanut butter was under way.

Volunteers brought in homemade peanut butter cookies, cupcakes with peanut butter frosting, peanut butter cups, and other peanut treats to remind staff to haul in those jars of peanut butter.

Did they reach their goal? Not this first time around, but they did bring in more than 1,000 pounds of peanut butter for the local food bank.

"We will do this again," said Mitchell, "and we will start earlier." She is already working on a discount for future peanut butter purchases at a nearby membership warehouse.