Reducing Hunger and Promoting Healthy Communities Through TDC Group’s Matching Programs
Liz Witbeck, CPA
Liz Witbeck, CPA, Manager of Financial Reporting and Systems, has a long history of donating to worthy causes. When she and her husband, Ray, were first married, they agreed to donate a certain percentage of their annual income to causes important to them—and they’ve followed through for 38 years together and counting.
Since 2018, as a participant in TDC Group’s Employee Gift Matching Program, Ms. Witbeck has seen her donations doubled, amplifying her contribution to causes close to her heart. These include access to fresh food, safe shelter, and the great outdoors, among other social determinants of health (SDOH).
Her favorite organizations include the ones below.
Helping Her Neighbors
Ms. Witbeck joins fellow TDC Group employees in the fight against food insecurity with her matched donations to a trusted Bay Area resource making a dent in addressing SDOH.
Liz Witbeck and family at a Bay Area Rescue Mission event
Bay Area Rescue Mission: Since the 1960s, Bay Area Rescue Mission has provided food, clothing, shelter, and social support to people in need in California’s Bay Area. Each day, they serve thousands of meals and provide hundreds of people with a safe place to sleep for the night. They also provide job training, addiction recovery counseling, parenting support, and other resources to help participants in their residential Life Transformation Programs achieve a healthier and more stable life for themselves and their families. Ms. Witbeck says, “Personal stories from people whose lives have been completely turned around have made a big impression on me.” This impression is even stronger because she’s local: “These are people that are in my community, so it’s extra meaningful that I can make a difference, help somehow.”
Protecting the Great Outdoors
Liz Witbeck at Mount Diablo
As lovers of hiking and the outdoors, the Witbeck family supports environmental organizations with links to community education and health.
Save Mount Diablo: The Witbecks hold this Bay Area land trust and conservation organization dear to their hearts. The Diablo Range is a treasure trove of rare species like condors. On hikes with friends and family in the Mount Diablo area, Ms. Witbeck especially enjoys taking photos of wildflowers, catching a glimpse of a snake, or identifying birds with her husband, who is an avid bird watcher.
Plant With Purpose: Plant With Purpose recognizes that environmental degradation is connected to poverty, low access to schooling, low access to healthcare, and overall poor health and life outcomes. In nine countries around the world, the organization works in partnership with local communities on reforestation, regenerative agriculture, soil conservation, and more. Through its recognition of connections between local economies and their environments, Plant With Purpose is becoming increasingly important to the Witbecks.
In reforestation projects, farmers plant and cultivate trees on their own land. In terms of food production, participating farmers learn sustainable techniques to improve crop yield, which adds to their family’s food security, their income, and their ability to pay children’s school fees, among other opportunities. These economic and health benefits often flow to participants’ neighbors and nearby community members.
Work in reforestation and environmental restoration has personal resonance for Ms. Witbeck: “Once upon a time, I took some courses in landscaping, and so Plant With Purpose is to me a very impressive organization, because they are trying to help with reforestation in conjunction with helping communities restore their own resources.”
Preserving California’s History
Ms. Witbeck’s family also supports a youth foreign exchange program and other groups promoting cultural and historical understanding.
Photo courtesy of Ray Witbeck
Friends of the Joaquin Moraga Adobe: Living near this historic building, the oldest surviving building in Contra Costa County, gives Ms. Witbeck and her husband a personal connection to preservation efforts. The building is a bridge between the present day and the Mexican land grant era of California’s early 19th century, and volunteers like Mr. Witbeck aspire to make the site a place of education for the community. They plan to open to visitors later in 2024.
Promoting Cultural Exchange
Youth for Understanding: Having studied abroad in Japan in both high school and college, Ms. Witbeck feels a strong connection to the study-abroad tradition. Her experience of cultural exchange “directed my immediate future” after college: Her undergraduate degree was in Asian Studies, she says, and then “I worked for a company that exported produce to Japan.”
Founded in the wake of World War II, Youth for Understanding is a study-abroad program that now pairs young people from all around the world with host families in other countries to help them “gain intercultural understanding, learn mutual respect, and develop a sense of social responsibility.”
Giving Tips
Asked how she chooses organizations to receive her donations, Ms. Witbeck says that personal relationships can be the spark: Often, “I’ve known other people that have either contributed to them or been involved in them.” She originally heard about Plant With Purpose, for instance, through family connections.
But Ms. Witbeck says that overall, she tends to prioritize more local organizations.
Looking back, she reflects, “When I first got to the company, I wasn’t really aware of the Employee Gift Matching Program.” But now that she’s “dialed in”: “It’s pretty wonderful,” she says. “I was really thrilled about the double match in October.”
“This is a great opportunity to double what I’m able to do. It’s been a privilege to help support my community.”
Supporting the Communities Where We Live and Work
As employees around the U.S. identify worthy causes in their regions, the TDC Group Community Relations team finds opportunities to directly support the communities where we live and work. Our investments aim to address the social determinants of health—creating environments that promote good health for all.
TDC Group is building the preeminent organization for service to healthcare. We encourage employees to use the Employee Gift Matching Program as they invest in the health of their communities.