OMAHA, Neb., April 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- ConAgra Foods
(NYSE: CAG) employees across the United
States launched the first-ever Day of Service as part of the
company's Child Hunger Ends Here® campaign. ConAgra Foods employees
organized more than 125 volunteer events at their local Feeding
America® food banks and pantries and gave 3,000 hours of service to
community-based programs that help children and families overcome
hunger.
(Photo:
http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20110425/CG88362)
Today, 17.2 million children – that's one in four – are
struggling with hunger in communities across the nation. With
plants and offices in states from California and Washington to Pennsylvania and Florida, ConAgra Foods employees helped stock
food pantries and distribute food to families in need, donated
thousands of pounds of food, prepared community gardens for spring
planting season and more – all in an effort to bring the goal of
ending child hunger in the United
States another step closer to becoming a reality.
"We've been committed to ending child hunger in America for
nearly 20 years and – thanks to the support of ConAgra Foods
employees who live and work in communities across the country
- I'm confident we can help make sure that Child Hunger
Ends Here!" said Kori Reed, vice
president of Cause and the ConAgra Foods Foundation.
Some highlights from ConAgra Foods' Child Hunger Ends Here Day
of Service include:
- Employees in Council Bluffs,
Iowa, collected and donated approximately 10,000 pounds of
food to the Food Bank for the Heartland, one of the largest
donations made to the food bank by any single group.
- Humboldt, Tenn., employees
donated nearly 2,500 pounds of food to the Helping Hands of
Humboldt food pantry, which is
affiliated with the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle
Tennessee.
- Employees from the Omaha,
Neb., area packed more than 14,000 backpacks to be
distributed to middle-school and high-school students in rural
Iowa and Nebraska during the summer months. The bags
were filled with food donated by ConAgra Foods.
- In Pasco, Wash., employees
distributed free produce and perishable food items to low-income
families and people in need at a mobile food bank in partnership
with Second Harvest Inland Northwest.
- Employees in Naperville, Ill.,
packed more than 7,000 backpacks for children who rely on
subsidized school lunch programs at two separate events for the
Greater Chicago Food Depository and the Northern Illinois Food
Bank.
"As a ConAgra Foods employee, I'm proud to do my part to help
end child hunger, and I'm humbled by the generosity of my
co-workers," said Samantha Lee,
manufacturing development associate at ConAgra Foods' Council Bluffs, Iowa, plant. "Next year, I'm
certain our Child Hunger Ends Here Employee Day of Service will be
a much-anticipated event among employees and the communities where
we live and work."
"From the very beginning, our entire team was supportive of the
Child Hunger Ends Here Employee Day of Service. But I never
expected we would gather more than a ton of food to donate to the
Helping Hands of Humboldt food
pantry. To be able to provide that kind of help to our community is
an amazing accomplishment," said Vickie
Granade, Human Resources manager for ConAgra Foods'
Humboldt, Tenn., plant.
In 2010, ConAgra Foods and Feeding America launched the Child
Hunger Ends Here campaign to increase awareness of the problem of
child hunger in America and provide consumers with simple ways to
help. The 2011 campaign kicked off in March, bringing together some
of ConAgra Foods' best-known brands in the largest cause-marketing
program in the company's history. Highlighted by a multi-brand
packaging promotion, the broadcast of an NBC Special Report,
hosted by Al Roker and Natalie Morales, and online and social media
extensions, the comprehensive campaign expands on ConAgra Foods'
long-standing commitment to ending child hunger in America. Since
1993, ConAgra Foods and the ConAgra Foods Foundation have donated
$35 million and more than 250 million
pounds of food to Feeding America.
For more information about Child Hunger Ends Here, visit
www.childhungerendshere.com.
About ConAgra Foods:
ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) is one of North America's leading food companies, with
brands in 97 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 more 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.
SOURCE ConAgra Foods