America's Second Harvest Provides Emergency Food And Water To Help California Wildfire Relief Efforts

CHICAGO --- October 24, 2007 --- As San Diego and Southern California deal with dangerous wildfires that have caused thousands of residents to flee their homes, America's Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network is coordinating efforts to help feed displaced residents, emergency workers and others affected by the fires.

America’s Second Harvest is sending national staff to San Diego to work with local Network members, and fulfill requests for food and water as they come to our attention.

Emergency food and grocery products staged at America’s Second Harvest food banks around the nation for use in times of disaster are in being trucked to San Diego.

America's Second Harvest has a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for planning and response to disasters. The national hunger relief charity became involved in disaster relief during the Hurricane Hugo relief effort in 1989, which required substantial feeding and logistical resources to feed the thousands of people displaced due to the storm.

In response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, America's Second Harvest Network provided more than 83 million pounds of grocery products to New Orleans and the Gulf area.

To make a financial donation that will directly assist America's Second Harvest members in affected areas, visit www.secondharvest.org or call 800-771-2303. To make a financial donation directly to your local America's Second Harvest network member, visit www.secondharvest.org and enter your ZIP code on the right side of the web page.

America's Second Harvest — The Nation's Food Bank Network is the largest charitable domestic hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through its network of more than 200 member food banks, America's Second Harvest annually provides assistance to more than 25 million people in need, including more than 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Each year, America's Second Harvest secures and distributes more than 2 billion pounds of food and grocery products to support feeding programs at approximately 50,000 local charitable agencies, including food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after-school programs, and Kids Cafes. To learn more, please visit www.secondharvest.org.

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Contact:
Ross Fraser
312.641.6422