Newman's Own Foundation and Ford Motor Company Donate Trucks and Food to Feed the Nation's Hungry
Program Has Distributed More than 74 Million Pounds of Food
LOS ANGELES --- October 2, 2007 --- The Newman’s Own Foundation and Ford Motor Company today donated seven refrigerated trucks to members of America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network. The trucks were filled with an assortment of Newman’s Own product.
The refrigerated trucks will help deliver fresh and nutritious food to hard-to-reach communities that are often underserved. Donated produce, meat and dairy products usually cannot be delivered to remote areas unless refrigerated trucks are available for long delivery routes.
This is the seventh consecutive year of the “Partnership for Hunger Relief.” A total of 75 vehicles have been donated since the partnership’s founding in 2001. The trucks have traveled a combined total of more than three million miles and have distributed more than 74 million pounds of food to rural areas in need.
The seven food banks receiving trucks this year are the Baton Rouge Food Bank, Louisiana; Food Bank of South Central Michigan, Battle Creek; FoodBank of the Virginia Peninsula, Newport News; Foodbank of Santa Barbara, California; Food Bank of the Rockies, Denver, Colorado; Island Harvest, Long Island, New York; Mississippi Food Network, Jackson.
According to the USDA report Food Security in the United States: 2005, 12 percent of all rural households are food insecure, an estimated 2.3 million households. The America’s Second Harvest report, Hunger in America 2006, found that 42.6 percent of the adult clients they serve live in suburban or rural areas.
Paul Newman said, “Food is available in this country – it just needs to find its way to our neighbors living in remote areas. Ford, America’s Second Harvest and the Newman’s Own Foundation are helping to do just that.”
“Hunger is an issue that affects us all for it deprives individuals of a most basic necessity and stunts human spirit and potential,” said Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services President, Jim Vella. “Ford Motor Company’s support of Partnership for Hunger Relief through its donated refrigerated trucks and vans is extremely important because of the positive impact it has on thousands of people across America. Our joint efforts, alongside America’s Second Harvest and Newman’s Own Foundation, help ensure that those living in underserved areas realize a quality of life deserving of every human being.”
"The USDA and our own hunger studies consistently demonstrate that poverty and hunger rates are higher in rural areas than they are in America’s cities. Furthering the problem, it is easier to reach hungry people in urban areas than in rural areas, where people are more widely dispersed,” said Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of America's Second Harvest. “We are extremely grateful to Newman’s Own Foundation and Ford Motor Company for this generous and much-needed contribution. These trucks will help us provide fresh and nutritious food to hundreds of Americans.”
America's Second Harvest is the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the United States, feeding people in rural, urban and suburban communities. Paul Newman and the Newman’s Own Foundation donate all profits and royalties after taxes for educational and charitable purposes. Paul Newman and the Newman’s Own Foundation have given over $200 Million to thousands of charities worldwide since l982.
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Contact:
Ross Fraser
America’s Second Harvest
312-641-6422
