National Guardsman, a 澳门六合彩官网直播 alum, helps lead effort to feed thousands of Michigan families

Contact: Erin Flynn
May 5, 2020
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National Guardsmen pack boxes of food in a warehouse.
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PONTIAC, Mich.鈥擣eeding the growing number of Michiganders in need during the COVID-19 crisis is no small task. 2nd Lt. Hunter Davidson and his team of Michigan National Guard soldiers are up to the challenge. Initially scheduled for annual training in Morocco, the global pandemic shifted their plans.

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2nd Lt. Hunter Davidson packs food into boxes.

鈥淲e were used as a quick deployable unit to do anything that the state would need鈥 for COVID-19 response, says Davidson.

His team from the 1433rd Engineer Company began in Comstock Park in late March. They packed emergency boxes full of food for smaller food pantries to distribute to Grand Rapids-area families. Davidson also had a chance to facilitate two drive-up events, where the team distributed boxes to hundreds of people in their cars.

鈥淚t was really nice to be out in public and actually see the people who we were putting the food together for,鈥 he says.  鈥淧art of the reason we joined the guard was to be able to give back to our neighbors. We are also civilians ourselves most of the time, so being able to serve our communities is really important.鈥

A little more than a week into their orders in West Michigan, Davidson鈥檚 10 soldier unit was deployed to Pontiac. They鈥檝e spent the past few weeks at a food bank in Pontiac, assembling 1,000 quarantine boxes per day for senior citizens.

鈥淧acking boxes isn鈥檛 easy; it鈥檚 pretty difficult. But, at the end of the day, we all know it鈥檚 for a really good cause,鈥 Davidson says, estimating his team has assembled more than 400,000 pounds worth of food boxes. 鈥淲e鈥檙e helping thousands of people.鈥

A TRADITION OF SERVICE

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Aerial photo of cars at a drive-up distribution event at Woodland Mall in Kentwood, Michigan.

Davidson knew early on he wanted to serve in the military. The son of a Michigan National Guard officer, a sense of duty to his country was in his blood. He chose 澳门六合彩官网直播, across the state from his hometown of Croswell, specifically for the ROTC program.

鈥淚 knew Western had the best ROTC program in the state,鈥 he says. 鈥淢y wife, Rachael鈥攎y girlfriend at the time鈥攇ot into the occupational therapy program at 澳门六合彩官网直播, which also was the best in the state. It just worked out.鈥

While participating in the ROTC program, Davidson explored several possible fields of study鈥攆rom biology to education鈥攂efore he chose political science. After graduating with a bachelor鈥檚 degree in 2019, he landed a job as a manager at Amazon right away. That job, paired with the experience he gained at 澳门六合彩官网直播, set him up for success in the uncharted territory he鈥檚 leading his team through now.

鈥淭he ability to remain resilient, flexible and handle all of the changes that have been happening throughout this COVID-19 crisis, Western really helped with that,鈥 says Davidson. 鈥淓verything changes here every single day. So, if I wasn鈥檛 resilient or able to adapt, it would be pretty difficult.鈥

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Soldiers assemble emergency boxes at the Feeding America West Michigan Food Bank in March.

That innovative and adaptable mindset helped Davidson lead a reorganization effort at the food bank鈥檚 warehouse that doubled production ability, from 600 to more than 1,200 boxes per day.

鈥淭he benefit of the National Guard is you have people from all walks of life that work in (industries like) manufacturing or engineering or operations. So, we鈥檝e been able to come in and all the civilians where we鈥檝e worked have been blown away with how efficiently we鈥檙e working and how fast we鈥檙e able to do our job.鈥

Davidon鈥檚 team will continue providing critical support to food banks through the end of May, wrapping up more than two months of service.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been extended a few times. They keep asking who wants to keep going, and we keep volunteering.鈥

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