Employees from Southwest Airlines (NYSE: LUV) and its wholly-owned subsidiary AirTran Airways recently helped local communities prepare for disaster by collecting and donating nearly 14,000 pounds of food, which will generate more than 11,000 meals to benefit food banks and other nonprofit charitable organizations across the nation. The giving back didn’t stop there—hundreds of Employees traveled to local food banks to donate the cans collected and volunteered to help sort food, clean, and assist with other needs. In addition to this donation, Employees created canned food sculptures in nearly 30 Southwest-served airports and competed by location for the chance to win a monetary donation for the local nonprofit organization of their choice. To read a blog post and view a video of Employees building canned food sculptures, visit the NUTS About Southwest blog.

Here are a few stories where Southwest and AirTran Employees made a positive difference, including the winning location: