Tide and America's Second Harvest Partner to Announce TIDE CLEANSTART Program for Hurricane Katrina Victims
As Part of Rebuilding Effort, Free Laundry Service Offered to Greater New Orleans Area
Cincinnati, OH --- November 2005 --- As families begin to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Tide and America’s Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network are partnering to make this effort easier with the announcement of the Tide CleanStart program. The mobile initiative kicked off on November 10th and traveled to Camp Hope in the Metairie, LA area to provide free laundry services to families affected by the disaster.
“As we witnessed this tragedy, we immediately wanted to reach out in a way that directly impacted the everyday lives of those returning to the area,” says Suzanne Watson, Brand Manager, Tide U.S. “The goal of the Tide CleanStart program is to help restore some sense of comfort with families as they rebuild their homes and their lives.”
The time to assist with Tide CleanStart is right now. As the region continues its rebuilding effort and basic needs including food, water and shelter are being fulfilled, laundry facilities are becoming more critical. Here’s why:
• Approximately 250,000 people are still living in hotels waiting for
temporary housing; another 4,000 are still in shelters
• There are an
estimated 1.1 million people still displaced
• Only 1 in 4 people have
returned to New Orleans because power is limited
• New Orleans evacuees
are still spread across 44 different states; most of them are eager to return
and start rebuilding their lives
Tide CleanStart will help to make laundry happen again. The mobile laundromat will serve the greater New Orleans area and laundry relief efforts will last through early December at Camp Hope.
“We are thrilled to work with Tide to help bring this thoughtful and innovative program to life,” says Robert Forney, president and CEO for America’s Second Harvest. “This service lends a much needed hand to thousands of families in the Gulf Coast area as they continue rebuilding their lives.”
The mobile laundromat is set to operate an average of 16 hours per day and will complete approximately 10,000 free loads of laundry over a four week period. Local residents will be able to drop off their laundry to be washed, dried and folded by the Tide CleanStart team.
“Laundry services are just not available right now in many of these areas,” says Toby Ives, Interim Director of Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans and Acadiana. “We are grateful to Tide CleanStart for providing this basic need that is so simple, yet so crucial for people as they start trying to rebuild their homes, communities and lives.”
For more information on Tide CleanStart please visit www.secondharvest.org.
About Tide
For almost 60 years, Tide has been caring for
the clothes of American families and helping to provide the everyday miracle of
clean clothing. Please visit www.tide.com for
helpful product information, practical tips on laundry care, special offers and
promotions, updated fabric care articles, and an interactive Stain Detective,
which provides official Tide stain removal solutions.
About America’s Second Harvest — The Nation’s Food Bank
Network
America's Second Harvest — The Nation's Food Bank Network
is the nation's largest charitable hunger-relief organization with a Network of
more than 200 regional member food banks and food - rescue programs serving all
50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. The America's Second
Harvest Network secures and distributes nearly two billion pounds of donated
food and grocery products annually. The America's Second Harvest Network
supports approximately 50,000 local charitable agencies operating more than
94,000 programs including food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters,
after-school programs, and Kids Cafes. Last year, the America's Second Harvest
Network provided food assistance to more than 23 million low-income hungry
people in the United States, including more than nine million children and
nearly three million seniors. For more on America's Second Harvest, please
visit www.secondharvest.org.
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For more information, please contact:
Maura
Daly
America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network
Office: 312.263.2303 ext. 162/Cell: 301.943.3733
mdaly@secondharvest.org
Jenny Rodgers
Second Harvest Food Bank of Greater New Orleans
and Acadiana
Office: 504.734-1322 ext. 223/ Cell:
504.289.3265
jrodgers@secondharvest.org
Cindy Pino
DeVries Public Relations
Office:
646.253.0203/Cell: 201.615.3287
cpino@devries-pr.com
