Dana Delany Rallies Neighbors from Wisteria Lane and beyond to Help End Child Hunger in America's Communities
April 07 2010 - 5:24PM
Business Wire
Today, there was another dramatic turn on Wisteria Lane – but
this time, it was to raise awareness about a real and serious issue
facing America’s communities today: childhood hunger.
According to recent research from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, nearly one in four children in the United States
doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from. The issue knows
no boundaries, which is why Dana Delany, one of the stars of ABC’s
hit series “Desperate Housewives,” used the set of this iconic
neighborhood as the backdrop to help promote the Child Hunger Ends
Here Neighborhood Rally campaign, a new initiative led by ConAgra
Foods® (NYSE:CAG), in partnership with Feeding America, the
nation’s leading hunger-relief organization. The campaign seeks to
draw attention and support for an issue that affects children
throughout the United States, in neighborhoods that we all call
home.
“One of the things I love most about ‘Desperate Housewives’ is
that no matter what happens on Wisteria Lane, all of the neighbors
always rally together when the need is critical,” said Delany. “And
with nearly one in four children facing hunger in our communities
and neighborhoods, we have to rally together to help end child
hunger, here and now.”
Through the Child Hunger Ends Here Neighborhood Rally campaign,
individuals in communities across the nation can help kids at risk
of hunger by rallying together to raise money, collect food,
purchase products that trigger a donation to Feeding America and
raise awareness about the issue among their community. They can
turn a bake sale, church rummage sale, food drive, yard sale,
school carnival or other community events into a Child Hunger Ends
Here Neighborhood Rally simply by donating a portion or all of the
proceeds from an event to Feeding America, which has a network of
more than 200 food banks across the nation. Donations made online
directly at Feeding America’s Child Hunger Ends Here page and food
collected locally will stay in local communities.
“We believe the tremendous power of communities coming together
can help end child hunger,” said Gary Rodkin, CEO of ConAgra Foods.
“No child in the United States should face the risk of attending
school, going out to play or going to bed without a nutritious
meal. To make sure all children have access to the food they need
to lead healthy, active lives, we hope people nationwide come
together and host or participate in a Child Hunger Ends Here
Neighborhood Rally.”
ConAgra Foods’ Child Hunger Ends Here initiative builds on a
long-standing commitment by ConAgra Foods and the ConAgra Foods
Foundation to end child hunger, which has resulted in donations of
more than $38 million and more than 232 million pounds of food to
Feeding America since 1993. The ConAgra Foods Foundation recently
committed an additional $10 million to Feeding America over the
next five years, which is the largest donation ever made to Feeding
America specifically to fight child hunger.
“ConAgra Foods is a longtime, committed partner of Feeding
America, and we are incredibly grateful for their dedication in
fighting domestic childhood hunger,” said Vicki Escarra, President
and CEO of Feeding America. “With nearly one in four children
across the nation struggling with hunger, we are in crisis right
now. No American, and especially no child, should go hungry, and we
thank ConAgra Foods for joining us in that belief and for raising
awareness and support for Feeding America in neighborhoods across
the country this spring.”
“It’s so difficult to believe that nearly 17 million kids in
this country don’t get enough food to live active, healthful
lives,” said Delany. “But by rallying our friends and neighbors,
and making a stand that child hunger ends here, with us, we can
make a difference in these kids’ lives.”
The program’s web site – www.childhungerendshere.com –
provides more information about the issue of child hunger and
details on the number of ways to get involved:
- Host a rally – work with
friends to create a new event or designate an existing like a block
party, yard sale, or school bake sale as a Child Hunger Ends Here
Neighborhood Rally. Tips, ideas, and more information about how to
host a rally can be found at www.childhungerendshere.com. People
who register their rally at the site will receive a rally toolkit
with posters, a banner, and ConAgra Foods coupons, while supplies
last. To date, more than 850 Child Hunger Ends Here House Parties
were held throughout the country to rally against child hunger,
with more than 10,000 people in attendance. Gatherings ranged from
in-home dinner parties to church functions to play dates. An
additional 150 rallies will take place over the following weeks –
and an additional 300 rallies (with more than 25,000 anticipated
attendees) have been registered online.
- Go grocery shopping –
From March through May, for every purchase of a participating
ConAgra Foods brand, the company will donate one meal to Feeding
America – up to 2.5 million meals this year.* Participating brands
include Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Healthy Choice, Manwich, Marie
Callender’s, Orville Redenbacher’s, and Peter Pan peanut
butter.
- Visit the Virtual Rally –
Dana Delany and several of her celebrity friends and neighbors
donated autographed items for the Child Hunger Ends Here online
celebrity rummage sale with Clothes Off Our Back, this online
auction will be donated to Feeding America.
- Spread the Word –
Individuals can help raise awareness about the issue of childhood
hunger by going online to www.childhungerendshere.com. From there,
people can link off to our Facebook, Twitter, FlickR, YouTube and
other social media channels for campaign updates, to spread the
word or to upload photos and videos of their rallies. (To visit
these channels directly, go to: facebook.com/ConAgraFoods;
twitter.com/ConAgraFoods; flickr.com/photos/childhungerendshere;
Youtube.com/childhungerendshere).
Through the Child Hunger Ends Here Neighborhood Rally Campaign,
ConAgra Foods is fighting child hunger in a number of other ways,
including:
- Child Hunger Blogger
Correspondents – ConAgra Foods is engaging 14 influential
bloggers across the country to rally their online and offline
communities to join in the fight to help end child hunger. In
addition to raising awareness about the issue, these women will
host their own local Neighborhood Rallies this spring in their
local communities. (For a complete list of the Child Hunger Blogger
Correspondents, visit www.facebook.com/conagrafoods.)
- Food Donations –
Regularly, ConAgra Foods and its brands donate food directly to
Feeding America and its network of food banks. Last week, Marie
Callender’s donated more than 330,000 meals to Feeding America food
banks across the country. In addition, Peter Pan is donating the
equivalent of more than one million meals to fight child hunger in
America.
- Employee Involvement –
ConAgra Foods employees are rallying around the cause too, with
employee events planned for early May at the company headquarters
in Omaha and other locations across the country.
* Monetary equivalent of up to 2.5 million meals provided to
Feeding America through their network of food banks for purchases
made through 5/31/10. Every dollar donated enables seven meals to
be provided to Americans in need.
ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) is one of North America’s
leading food companies, with brands in 96 percent of America’s
households. Consumers find Banquet, Chef Boyardee, Egg Beaters,
Healthy Choice, Hebrew National, Hunt’s, Marie Callender’s, Orville
Redenbacher’s, PAM, Peter Pan, Reddi-wip and many ConAgra Foods
brands in grocery, convenience, mass merchandise and club stores.
ConAgra Foods also has a strong business-to-business presence,
supplying frozen potato and sweet potato products as well as other
vegetable, spice and grain products to a variety of well-known
restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial customers. For
more information, please visit us at www.conagrafoods.com.
Feeding America provides low-income individuals and families
with the fuel to survive and even thrive. As the nation's leading
domestic hunger-relief charity, our network members supply food to
more than 37 million Americans each year, including 14 million
children and 3 million seniors. Serving the entire United States,
more than 200 member food banks support 63,000 agencies that
address hunger in all of its forms. For more information on how you
can fight hunger in your community and across the country, visit
www.feedingamerica.org. Find us on Facebook at
facebook.com/FeedingAmerica or follow our news on Twitter at
twitter.com/FeedingAmerica.
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