CHICAGO, Aug. 28, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --
Feeding America is pleased to announce a $1.3 million commitment from Target to support
the establishment of Regional Produce Cooperatives throughout the
country that will increase the amount of produce available for
distribution to people in need while also reducing wasted food. The
six regional cooperatives will support Feeding America's network
member food banks and their efforts to provide more healthy food
options for people facing hunger.
The Regional Produce Cooperatives will enable food banks to
receive a greater variety of produce at a lower cost and with more
consistency. The Cooperatives create an efficient and effective
model to procure and process larger volumes of produce while
allowing food banks of all sizes to receive the product needed for
their local community.
"There are 42 million people in the U.S. who do not have access
to enough nutritious food and are just trying to make ends meet,"
said Diana Aviv, CEO of Feeding
America. "Our goal is to have fresh produce comprise half the food
we distribute by 2025. In the past year, we have distributed more
than a billion pounds of fruits and vegetables and with Target's
commitment to support Regional Produce Cooperatives, we are moving
closer toward that goal."
"Making better-for-you living accessible and attainable for
communities across the country is important to Target and our
guests," said Jennifer Silberman,
vice president, corporate social responsibility, Target. "These
cooperatives will help strengthen the neighborhoods where we do
business, and give more families across the nation access to
healthy food."
To date, six Regional Produce Cooperatives have been established
in strategic locations throughout the country to centralize produce
sourcing and distribution within in each region:
- Lower Midwest (Indiana)
- Upper Midwest (Minnesota)
- Southeast (Georgia)
- Mid-Atlantic (Pennsylvania)
- Northwest (Washington)
- Southwest (Texas)
The first new site launched was the Southwest location in summer
2016 and has already shipped 14 million pounds of produce to 21
food banks in Texas. The other
locations launched in 2017, bringing this effort to national scale
and scope.
The Regional Produce Cooperatives join the existing efforts of
the California Association of Food Banks, established in 2004. This
network sourced more than 160 million pounds of produce in the past
year.
Each Regional Produce Cooperative is member-led and operates one
central processing facility to receive, store and distribute large
amounts of produce. Furthermore, the cooperatives are able to
accept more produce donations, which increases the overall quantity
of fresh produce available to people facing hunger.
About Feeding America
Feeding America® is
the largest hunger-relief organization in the Unites States.
Through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and
meal programs, we provide meals to more than 46 million people each
year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food
waste and improve food security among the people we serve; educates
the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for
legislation that protects people from going hungry.
Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or
follow us on Twitter.
About Target
Minneapolis-based Target Corporation
(NYSE:TGT) serves guests at 1,816 stores and at Target.com. Since
1946, Target has given 5 percent of its profit to communities,
which today equals millions of dollars a week. For more
information, visit Target.com/Pressroom. For a behind-the-scenes
look at Target, visit Target.com/abullseyeview or follow
@TargetNews on Twitter.
Contact
Zuani Villarreal
Feeding America
312.641.6532
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SOURCE Feeding America