Goldman Sachs' Thanksgiving: Garbage Duty

(CBS/AP)  They received billions in a taxpayer-financed bailout, returned to soaring profits and recently set aside nearly $40 billion in compensation and bonuses. Goldman Sachs has a lot to be thankful for.

Of course, the same things they're thankful for have also caused Goldman to become one of the most vilified financial firms on Wall Street. And perhaps because of that, Goldman employees are trying to give back - volunteering for garbage duty at a charity dinner for thousands of hungry New Yorkers.

The Salvation Army plans to serve 10,000 free dinners across the city this Thanksgiving - meals planned by a star chef and cooked by one of New York's ritziest caterers.

The number of meals is 10 times as many as last year and come at a time when more and more Americans are struggling to put food on the table.

The turkey dinner will be prepared by Great Performances, a catering company that stages banquets for the grand ballroom of The Plaza. Leading the culinary team is star chef Marc Spooner, a winner of the Food Network's "Chopped" TV contest and the caterer's chef de cuisine.

Three hundred employees of Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Wall Street's richest firm, have volunteered for the holiday feast and will be tasked with taking out the garbage.

"Goldman wants their volunteers to sweat," joked Spooner, who at 6-foot-6 towered above a recent tasting session for the meal at Great Performances' kitchens in the SoHo neighborhood.

Goldman Sachs said the firm supports the effort, but referred all questions to the Salvation Army. The company's volunteers were not available for comment and their names would not be released, the Salvation Army said.

The investment bank is , with angry critics pointing to huge employee bonuses expected at year's end as evidence of the kind of greed that triggered the recession. A year ago, the firm received billions in federal bailout money. So far this year, it has set aside $16.7 billion for compensation and another $23 billion for bonuses.

That's drawn the ire of lawmakers, taxpayers and, most recently, Goldman's own investors. According to a Wall Street Journal report ($) Friday, some of the company's largest shareholders have asked it to scale down bonuses - not because they look obscene during difficult economic times but because they're cutting into investor profits.

Despite the soaring profits, earnings per share estimates for 2009 come in 22 percent lower than 2007 due to Goldman issuing more than 100 million new shares this past year to raise capital. Investors reason if the bonus money is slashed, the company's per-share earnings and stock price would improve.

The Journal notes shareholders are also worried that Goldman is employing an accounting trick to make per-employee salaries appear lower than they actually are. The firm is counting temporary employees and consultants to the total work force, driving average salaries down from $775,000 to $717,000 in 2009.

But, at least on Thanksgiving, bonuses and accounting practices will take a back seat to charity.

Spooner recently joined dozens of volunteer food professionals to figure out how to serve 10,000 meals simultaneously at 10 Salvation Army community centers from Brooklyn and Harlem to the Bronx.

Standing around a long steel table, they took notes over aluminum pans filled with herb-roasted turkey breasts from Pennsylvania and the traditional sides - stuffing, gravy, yams, green beans, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, rolls and pie.

Great Performances' CEO, Liz Neumark, will help out in the Bronx with her 14-year-old son. Her elite catering company's first such effort was last year, serving 1,000 meals.

"These were regular, ordinary people, just like us, who were hungry," she said. "And you think, 'there but for the grace of God."'

As more Americans lose their jobs, the free turkey dinners are only a tiny sliver of the food needed to satisfy the nation's soaring hunger.

More than 49 million Americans - one in seven households - struggled to put enough food on the table in 2008. That's the highest rate since the federal Department of Agriculture began tracking food security in 1995.

Great Performances is assembling the meals at cost, forgoing any profits; private contributions are covering basic expenses.

The New York Salvation Army is itself struggling, laying off 100 employees of the 130-year-old nonprofit organization currently helping about 600,000 people in need. It was holding an event in Times Square on Friday to start a $100 million anti-poverty fundraising campaign.

[rfp1959]

So these wall street thieves who are responsible for millions of people losing their life savings and jobs, then get rewarded with bail out money and bonuses which is more than most people will make in their lifetimes, think one day of service is going to make us forget? (Phew, that was a long sentence). You know, in Saudi Arabia they hack off the hands of thieves, we could do that here with their heads. Or better still, someone should start a web site that lists the personal information, like pictures, addresses, where their children go to school and their pictures too, of all the people at these wall street firms that are getting bonuses on top of taxpayer bailout money. Then we can thank them personally.

[blackbug99]

I actually believe that not everyone at GS is an evil spawn of Satan forced into servitude for this occasion. If these people can get a taste of goodwill from helping the poor, good on them. That said, the real volunteers, for this meal, are the people who may just be a check away from homelessness or not eating, yet they give up their time nonetheless. I hope all who volunteered take away something from the experience.

Now, the corporation, GS itself. You could do better. Give a man a fish and he eats for a day; Teach a man to fish and he feeds himself. Use some of that profit for retraining/job placement etc. You don't have to do it all. But you'd feel better if you gave it a start.

[FerdFerkle]

Why so much hype for feeding these hungry people ONE day a year. what about the other 364 days a year that they remain hungry. Goldman Sachs could afford to open up a food shelter to feed the hungry with all the profits all year around. The whining major stock holder are just as rich and should be the volunteers working the food shelters.

[cbsblogger]

LOL - for 364 days a year greed is their creed and they think 300 million Americans will fall for these Thanksgiving theatrics.

But in the end it doesn't make any difference what we all think as they have about 500 members of Congress and the Presidents cabinet in their hip pocket handing them billions of dollars and the debt obligations of generations of Americans.

[all_father]

I can see it now... GS staff directed by management to wear "old, worn" street clothes (that they -- or rather, the taxpayer -- will pay far too much for at some overpriced boutique store). And don't miss any photo ops so we can show everybody how we're just like "regular" Americans. Let's make sure the world knows that we're kind and caring people... so it'll be easier to steal from them.

Seems only appropriate that the affair will be catered by an outfit named "Great Performances".

[mnbrant]

Thanks for reminding us all to take out the garbage. Goldman Sachs

[quapawsix]

They are only doing this to try to boost their P.R. with the American people if they want to really impress us refuse accept their bonus checks.

[bciss]

Is this supposed to be impressive? When one does a check and balance of the other "voluntary" actions of GS. No, this is not impressive. It is a PR move.

[stinger1z]

We should have added a 35% interest rate on the bailout so companies would think otherwise about taking taxpayer money.

[thesevenveils]

Heck yes,
I'll gladly haul trash for a day knowing this good deed will make me feel better about my unjustified hundreds of thousands of dollars i get in bonuses, which dwarfs my ludicrous salary.