LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — This month's Vegas Stronger Champion exemplifies the fact that making Las Vegas a better place is a marathon, not a sprint.
Years ago, David Malewicz made the decision to give back, and he's never looked back. Malewicz has been coming back to Three Square Food Bank since the middle of 2020 when he started volunteering each and every day.
"When you help others, when you can help the community, and feed everyone, it gives me happiness, and that's what keeps me coming back," Malewicz told Channel 13.
"I worked at the South Campus when the call center was there; I've worked in the kitchen. I've done backpacks, sorted Amazon product, scanned Smith product, and worked over at the East Campus."
At the Three Square Food Bank East Campus, he helps fill and count bags of produce for the Senior Hunger Program.
"We have to fill the orders each day. We do an average of 600 bags every day, so over the last year our leader said we did 120,000 bags," Malewicz said.
He has tallied more than 3,000 volunteer hours, and the staff at Three Square Food Bank say they couldn't feed the community without dedication like his.
"The advantage of people like David is that we get them every single day. He's here like a Three Square employee, and that's a diamond in the rough," explained Tai McIntosh, director of distribution for Three Square Food Bank.
There are three ways to donate to Three Square Food Bank: via your time, like David; your money, through a donation; or by directly donating food. The organization says the need for food assistance is going up in Las Vegas, and food insecurity doesn't have a specific look.
"There are people that drive really nice cars that are food insecure. Everyone is trying to feed their family but also keep a roof over their heads. And so, quite often, you and I, every two weeks or whenever we get paid, we are looking to see how we can move those funds around to make sure that the needs of our family are being met, and that goes from people that make an hourly rate of pay to those that are salaried, and our retirees as well," McIntosh said.
While volunteers like David Malewicz might prefer to let their volunteerism do the talking, he is a shining example for the rest of us. For that reason, he's this month's Vegas Stronger Champion.
"We've heard about the tremendous number of hours you've been putting in over the years at Three Square," said Jeff Giles of Findlay Automotive Group as he presented Malewicz with a check.
"I think a lot of us think about volunteering and being a little more charitable during this time of year, but you're doing it all year round. It's so wonderful, and we think that just exemplifies the best of Las Vegas, so you're our Vegas Stronger Champion and we want to present you this small token of our appreciation."
Find out how you can get involved at Three Square by heading over to their website here.
