In the spirit of community outreach — and friendly competition among co-workers — KAR Auction Services and its employees generated donations of more than 11,000 food items for a local food bank in a recent “Battle of the Floors” food drive at the Indianapolis-area company.

A software quality analyst for the company — Scott Schultz — approached the outreach committee with the idea for each floor at KAR to compete to bring in the most food items.

After the weeklong drive, Gleaners Food Bank — which houses millions of pounds of necessities for the needy in the community — received 11,265 food items.

“We work in a very competitive industry, but one that also thrives on camaraderie and generosity,” said Schultz. “I thought this was the perfect opportunity to combine all three of these elements to support Gleaners.”

Explaining how the competition worked, each floor was designed with a specific food item. Soups and stews were the first floor and the second floor brought in beans. Employees on the third floor were tasked with brining in canned fruits, vegetables and meats, while the fourth floor’s items were non-perishable breakfast items.

The fifth floor donated pasta and rice, as well as macaroni and cheese.

Interestingly enough, some of the floors turned to rather unique strategies for generating donations. The fifth floor raised monetary donations and shopped for items, rather than just having employees bring things in.

The third floor reached out to a local Kroger and got the store to reduce prices on canned goods. Doing so wiped out the store’s stock of those items. In fact, the northside Kroger store in the area put up an “out of canned vegetables” notice to shoppers.

“I’ve volunteered with the Outreach Committee for years, and I’ve never seen such an outpouring of generosity,” said Sarah Barefoot, one of the employees who helped organize the event. “It was truly a team effort and a wonderful opportunity to meet and interact with people from other business units and departments.”