HOUSTON, Aug. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- For many kids, back to
school means new school supplies, new clothes and new teachers. But
for millions of children, going back to school means the comfort of
knowing they will once again have regular meals provided five days
a week.
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During the school year, 19.5 million children receive free and
reduced-price meals at school. But during the summer months, only
2.2 million children participate in the U.S. Department of
Agriculture's Summer Food Service Program (SFSP). In Texas,
the need to help children is especially high. According to a report
released by Feeding America and the ConAgra Foods Foundation –
"Child Food Insecurity in the United
States: 2006-2008" – Texas
has the second highest rate of child hunger in the United States at a rate of 25 percent.
In order to help children facing hunger, the ConAgra Foods
Foundation and Feeding America created the Hunger-Free Summer
initiative. This initiative assists children through a $5 million donation from the ConAgra Foods
Foundation to Feeding America over five years. The goal of
Hunger-Free Summer is to provide at least 25 percent more meals for
children in need. This summer, ConAgra Foods Foundation's work with
Feeding America will deliver one million meals to children in
need.
Among those supporting the Hunger-Free Summer program this year
is 2006 "American Idol" runner-up, Katharine McPhee.
"I have had so much fun this summer visiting children from
Orlando to Los Angeles, writing songs, singing with them
and working to provide laughter and fun in their day," said McPhee.
"The Hunger-Free Summer initiative has been truly rewarding for me
and I hope the awareness does not end when children go back to
school, because unfortunately, hunger doesn't fully stop when
school starts."
"When we learned children are more likely to face hunger during
the summer months, we teamed up with Feeding America to help bring
a million meals to kids struggling with hunger this summer," said
Kori Reed, executive director,
ConAgra Foods Foundation. "We're proud to have accomplished
so much in the first year of our Hunger-Free Summer initiative with
Katharine and Feeding America, and look forward to doing even more
to close the summer hunger gap over the next four years."
"As the number of children struggling with hunger continues to
rise, our nation continues to face a true crisis," said
Vicki Escarra, President and CEO of
Feeding America. "Our most recent research on child food insecurity
revealed Texas as rated the second
highest in the country, so it is fitting that the Hunger-Free
Summer initiative concludes right here, in a place where we must
increase visibility of the resources available for children during
the critical summer months."
McPhee launched Hunger-Free Summer in Orlando in July and has since traveled the
country volunteering her time, raising awareness for the cause, and
singing with the children served by the centers. She will
finish this summer's tour in Houston on August
17 at the Houston Food Bank from 12:00p.m. until 2:00p.m.
"We are honored to have been chosen out of all the food banks in
the state of Texas to host
Katharine this summer," said Brian
Greene, president and CEO of Houston Food Bank. "Her
generosity in devoting her time to this cause means a lot to us and
even more to the children of Houston."
For more information, please visit
http://feedingamerica.org/hungerfreesummer.
About Feeding America
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 61,000 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 us on Facebook at
facebook.com/FeedingAmerica or follow our news on Twitter at
twitter.com/FeedingAmerica.
About ConAgra Foods Foundation
The ConAgra Foods Foundation, through its Nourish Today,
Flourish Tomorrow platform, is dedicated to raising awareness of
the nearly 17 million children in America who are at risk of hunger
and don't have enough food to live active, healthful lives. It
aggressively pursues sustainable solutions in the fight against
child hunger. And the Foundation is committed to building a
community of people who are passionate about ensuring that all kids
have access to the food and facts they need to eat nutritiously
while living balanced lifestyles and succeeding in school and life.
ConAgra Foods Foundation invests in national and local partnerships
with high-impact, not-for-profit organizations, such as Feeding
America, that take an innovative approach to addressing needs in
the core areas of hunger and nutrition education. For more
information, please visit www.conagrafoodsfoundation.org or
www.facebook.com/ConAgraFoodsFoundation. The ConAgra Foods
Foundation is funded solely by ConAgra Foods (NYSE: CAG).
About the Houston Food Bank
The Houston Food Bank is the largest source of food
for hunger relief charities in 18 southeast Texas counties. A network of more than 400
food pantries, soup kitchens, senior centers and other agencies,
feeding a total of 137,000 people each week, provides more than 60
million pounds of food and prepared meals annually. Fresh produce,
meat and nonperishables are distributed from Herzstein Center, a
73,000 square-foot warehouse, and hot meals are prepared and
distributed from Keegan Center, a 15,000 square-foot industrial
kitchen. In 2011, the Food Bank's warehouse operations will be
moved to a much larger facility near the East Freeway and East
Loop. Additional community services range from nutrition
education to assistance with food stamp applications and hands-on
job training. Red Barrels offer a convenient way for grocery
shoppers to donate nonperishables for their neighbors in need. The
Houston Food Bank, founded in 1982, is a certified member of
Feeding America, the nation's food bank network. The organization
plans to grow to an annual distribution of 120 million pounds of
food by 2018. Visit HoustonFoodBank.org for more information.
Hunger-Free Summer – Local Grant Recipients
Through the support of the ConAgra Foods Foundation, 23
organizations in 16 states have been able to feed thousands of
children this summer. Grant recipients include:
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Alaska
- Food Bank of Alaska
Anchorage, AK
Alabama
- Bay Area Food Bank
Theodore, AL
Arkansas
- Arkansas Foodbank
Network
Little Rock, AR
California
- Second Harvest Food Bank of
Orange County
Irvine, CA
- Redwood Empire Food
Bank
Santa Rosa, CA
Florida
- Bread of the Mighty Food
Bank
Gainesville, FL
- Second Harvest Food Bank of
Central Florida
Orlando, FL
Indiana
- Food Finders Food
Bank
Lafayette, IN
Missouri
- Harvesters – The Community Food
Network
Kansas City, MO
North Carolina
- Food Bank of Central &
Eastern North Carolina
Raleigh, NC
- Second Harvest Food Bank of NW
North Carolina
Winston-Salem, NC
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Nevada
- Food Bank of Northern
Nevada
McCarran, NV
New York
- Food Bank of the Southern
Tier
Elmira, NY
- Island Harvest
Mineola, NY
Rhode Island
- Rhode Island Community Food
Bank
Providence, RI
South Carolina
- Lowcountry Food Bank
Charleston, SC
Tennessee
- Chattanooga Area Food
Bank
Chattanooga, TN
Texas
- Highplains Food Bank
Amarillo, TX
- Houston Food Bank
Houston, TX
- San Antonio Food Bank
San Antonio, TX
- East Texas Food Bank
Tyler, TX
Virginia
- Blue Ridge Area Food
Bank
Verona, VA
Vermont
- Vermont
Foodbank
South Barre, VT
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SOURCE ConAgra Foods Foundation
Copyright . 17 PR Newswire