Charter One and Gleaners Carve Out Hunger in Michigan
45 tons of poultry to feed more than 30,000 families, starting the food bank’s holiday food giveawayDETROIT (November 19, 2007) - Charter One is launching the second annual Carving Out Hunger program, an initiative to increase the awareness of hunger and to help fight its impact in southeast Michigan. The Charter One Foundation has pledged $75,000 to help provide 45 tons of poultry free of charge to 400 partner agencies of Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan.
In previous years during the holiday season, Gleaners purchased turkeys at wholesale prices and offered them to partner agencies at a discounted price. Charter One’s Carving Out Hunger will help underwrite the cost of turkeys that will feed more than 30,000 families and be used to prepare more than 80,000 meals. Beginning at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, November 19, Charter One volunteers will help distribute 45 tons of poultry to partner agencies. The distribution will take place in the parking lot of the Kroger store located at 7000 Monroe Boulevard in Taylor, Mich.
“Hungry children, seniors, and working poor families have hope today. Hope that their Thanksgiving will be blessed with enough food. And even more hope because Charter One is willing to make a difference both today and into the future. By giving away Thanksgiving turkeys, Gleaners and Charter One are making it possible for our partners to serve more hungry neighbors. Resources that would have been spent buying turkeys will now be spent on other necessary food,” said Agostinho Fernandes, President of Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan. “Charter One’s leadership will truly make a difference far beyond the wonderful gift of today.”
“Gleaners doesn’t just feed hungry neighbors – it is creating solutions to help end hunger in our region, “said Sandy Pierce, President of Charter One Michigan. “Charter One is proud to partner with Gleaners through Carving out Hunger to raise awareness of hunger while bringing compassion to people in need this holiday season.”
This year’s Carving Out Hunger initiative has been expanded to include a partnership with Kroger. Corrigan Moving Company is providing large storage units that will be placed in the parking lots of 12 Charter One branches located within Kroger grocery stores. The storage units will be used to collect non-perishable food donations from the public over a three-week period, with the goal of raising one million pounds of food.
Gleaners Community Food Bank of Southeastern Michigan is the third-oldest food bank in the United States. Gleaners secures, stores and distributes food to more than 400 local non-profit agencies that feed people in need. Some of Gleaners’ partner agencies operate soup kitchens or food pantries that provide food packages while others include shelters and human service organizations that serve meals. Since 1977, Gleaners Community Food Bank has grown to distributing nearly 25 million pounds annually, equivalent to 65,000 meals per day.
About the Charter One Foundation
Charter One Foundation is a subsidiary of the Citizens Charitable Foundation, which is a charitable contributions vehicle of Citizens Financial Group, Inc., RBS Citizens, N.A. and Citizens Bank of Pennsylvania. The foundation’s support is focused on housing, community development and basic human needs.
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