Pimco raises money for O.C. food bank

Over at Pacific Investment Management Co., the world’s largest bond fund manager (better known as Pimco), they have a particular keen insight into how bad the economy’s ailing. So the gang recently aimed to raise $25,000 for the Orange County food bank.

They did better than that.

Together the staff raised $34,000 by each “adopting” a box of food for $25.

The county’s adopt-a-box program pays for Thanksgiving dinner for a family of four.

The Pimco employees raised so much money the food bank used it to buy food and deliver it to Pimco’s Newport Beach headquarters.

Then it was up to 150 volunteers Nov. 23 to pack it up into 1,000 boxes, according to Sarah Middleton, Pimco’s manager of community outreach who helped organize the food drive.

They got it all done in two hours and 19 minutes, Middleton said. (They have a thing about precision with numbers at Pimco).

“It was a blast,” she said.

With the tunes rockin’ and the kids playing with their hula hoops and coloring books, the gang only took breaks for free breakfast and lunch courtesy of the deli on the first floor, Middleton said.

“It was very festive,” Middleton said, adding the company hopes to make it an annual event.

— Paul Anderson