Nearly 400 Holland America Line and Seabourn employees were joined by Holland America Line President and CEO and Seabourn Chairman Stein Kruse and other company executives this week as they helped process and prepare more than 111,000 pounds of food at Northwest Harvest, an organization dedicated to feeding the hungry in Washington State. The cruise companies’ sixth annual community giving week ran from Dec. 9 through 13, with employees volunteering for morning and afternoon shifts at the organization’s Kent, Wash., distribution center.

Northwest Harvest organizes and distributes food for area food banks, shelters and meal programs. Aside from providing volunteers, Kruse also presented Northwest Harvest with a monetary and grocery card donation totaling nearly $6,000 on behalf of the cruise lines and their employees.

“Every year, this volunteer experience becomes more rewarding for our employees because we’re directly impacting our community,” said Kruse. “Northwest Harvest is an incredible organization that supports so many in our area and we are honored to be able to work with them during the holiday season.”

Since 2008, more than 3,000 Holland America Line and Seabourn employees have volunteered at the Kent location, in addition to giving food and monetary donations. Northwest Harvest executives estimate that company employees have helped sort well over 150 tons (300,000 pounds) of food over the years.

Northwest Harvest is Washington’s only statewide hunger relief agency. The organization supplies free food to a network of nearly 360 independent food banks and meal programs throughout the state. Relying on contributions from individuals, businesses, foundations and other organizations, 93 percent of Northwest Harvest’s total budget goes to food distribution. For more information contact www.northwestharvest.org

For more information about Holland America Line, contact a travel professional, call 1-877-SAIL-HAL (1-877-724-5425) or visit www.hollandamerica.com.

For more information about Seabourn, contact a travel professional, call Seabourn at 1-800-929-9391 or visit www.seabourn.com.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Images available at https://www.cleanpix.com/cleanpix/portal/WRcm-hWx-hW2.

PHOTO CAPTION:  Holland America Line and Seabourn support numerous charities throughout the world, including Northwest Harvest, Washington’s only statewide hunger-relief agency. During the annual volunteer week, Stein Kruse, president and CEO of Holland America Line and chairman of Seabourn, presented company and employee donations of nearly $6,000 to Shelley Rotondo, executive director, Northwest Harvest. More than 500 Seattle employees processed more than 100,000 pounds of food for area food banks, shelters and meal programs and contributed $27,500 worth of volunteer hours.