Making a difference no `Mini' undertaking

By JOHN HOWELL
Posted 11/20/18

By JOHN HOWELL Each year the giving has doubled and it happened again on Friday, when Ed Medeiros and Eastern Commerce Solutions based in East Providence distributed - with the help of the Minis Make A Difference club - 1,800 food bags to about a dozen

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Making a difference no `Mini' undertaking

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Each year the giving has doubled and it happened again on Friday, when Ed Medeiros and Eastern Commerce Solutions based in East Providence distributed – with the help of the Minis Make A Difference club – 1,800 food bags to about a dozen nonprofit organizations across the state.

Each of the bags was accompanied by a turkey and had the makings of a Thanksgiving dinner to serve five to seven people.

Medeiros was still on a delivery run Friday afternoon when reached on his cell phone. He hadn’t had time for lunch or, for that matter, to change from his wet clothes. Most volunteers were soaked by the time they splashed through the slush and parked in the rain outside the former Benny’s at Wilde’s Corner to load up that morning.

The youngest of 12 children, Medeiros said he grew up in a “shack” on Sabine’s Point in Riverside. He has gone on to become the CEO of a company with offices in five states that provides human resources and accounting services to companies.

“Family and food are the things most important to me,” said Medeiros.

He said there is a big effort to help people at Christmas but that Thanksgiving gets overlooked. He looks to fill that gap and for the past five years has been providing meals to nonprofits such as the Boys and Girls Clubs, the YMCA and Children’s Wishes that know those in need. Each year he has doubled the number of bags.

That proved to be a logistical problem for Dave’s Marketplace, where Medeiros buys most of the food and the location where the bags are filled and picked up for delivery. Last year’s 900 bags proved to be a challenge for the East Greenwich store, so when Medeiros talked of doing 1,800 Susan Budlong, marketing director at Dave’s, anticipated problems. Bill Hogan at Dave’s had an answer. He called the Carpionato Group that bought all the Benny’s stores. Carpionato arranged for the operation to be carried out at the former Wilde’s Corner Store. The heat went on and after placing sheets of plywood on crates as makeshift tables, an assembly line went to work last week.

On Friday morning all the bags were filled and staying dry inside as Mini Coopers and their drivers started to arrive. Melissa Hagenberg and Kim Mallette, dressed in turkey t-shirts, were among the first to be there. They’re members of Minis Making A Difference and have worked prior deliver runs. Diane Zainyeh, also the owner of a Mini, arrived shortly thereafter. She made last year’s toy run, but this was her first Thanksgiving turkey trot.

“This is a neat way to do the holidays,” said Sue Schenck.

She said the local Minis Making A Difference is the oldest one of its group in the country. She described Mini owners as a cohesive clan that annually congregate for the Minis on Top June gathering in North Conway.

Friday’s weather put a damper on Mini drivers. One Mini owner even showed up in a Jeep, which was good as the added space was welcome. Medeiros called the Mini group “awesome.”

Their contribution fits with his philosophy that as long as you’re living, “you might as well make a difference in the world.” Medeiros has made giving a cornerstone to his business. He said he gives back 25 percent of corporate net profits every year. He put the cost of the food drive at $80,000.

“You learn” he said, “the goal is to reach out and help others.”

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