ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Sandia National Laboratories’ employees have just completed the yearly Employee Caring Program.

Sandia broke their giving record. Sandia employees and retirees have pledged $3.738 million to the United Way of Central New Mexico, making it the number one giver again. Sandia’s giving tree resides at Sandia not just during the holidays but throughout the year. Each branch constitutes a different type of giving to the community. Here are some examples.

• Right behind the Employee Caring Program and just in time for the holidays, Sandia’s Shoes for Kids program emerges. What started as an employee exchange program more than 50 years ago sparks the child in all of us as needy children receive new shoes for the holidays. Over the years, more than 11,500 children have received shoes. About 500 children from 21 Albuquerque schools are fitted with shoes each year.
• Our Hearts Warm Kids Feet program partners with the Shoes for Kids program by supplying socks to go with the shoes.
• The recent holiday gift drive yielded 435 gifts to benefit Children Youth and Families Department of New Mexico foster children.
• Sandia’s Roadrunner Food Bank drives are phenomenal. The recent Take a Turkey to Work Day yielded 375 turkeys, more than 150 over last year. Roadrunner Food Bank has made it possible for Sandia employees to donate electronically through a virtual site. Lockheed Martin donated $25,000, Sandia employees donated an additional $6,900.
• Sandia employees donated 21,000 items to the schools supplies drive before school started to schools with students in need.
• A new Habitat for Humanity house sponsored by Sandia/Lockheed Martin and retired Sandians was recently dedicated. This is the ninth Habitat for Humanity house built by Sandia employees and retirees.
• Project Linus volunteers get together and sew blankets for children who are seriously ill, traumatized or in need. This year 137 blankets were sewn and donated.
• Sandia joins other members of the community on Make a Difference Day. More than 200 Sandia employees, contractors, retirees, and family members completed 14 projects throughout the Albuquerque area for local non-profit agencies.
• Sandia has several science programs aimed to encourage students to pursue science, technology, engineering and math careers including MANOS, Dream Catchers, HM Tech, Family Science Nights, Science Bowls, and School to World.
• Sandia’s giving tree’s branches stand tall as they are full of Christmas gifts for the community. Families having been adopted and toys abound in many hallways as employees try to make life better for those in need not just during the holidays but throughout the year.
• Sandia has more than 850 active volunteers volunteering more than 114,973 volunteer hours during this year.

Sandia National Laboratories is a multimission laboratory operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. Sandia Labs has major research and development responsibilities in nuclear deterrence, global security, defense, energy technologies and economic competitiveness, with main facilities in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Livermore, California.

Sandia news media contact: Iris Aboytes, ioaboyt@sandia.gov (505) 844-2282