OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On July 18, ConAgra Foods’ businesses ConAgra Mills and Spicetec Flavors & Seasonings (SFS) hosted their fourth annual Child Hunger Ends Here Golf Event, raising $110,000 benefitting Food Bank for the Heartland’s Mobile Pantry Program, a traveling food pantry that distributes food in rural areas of Nebraska and western Iowa. The money raised this year will help feed approximately 2,000 families in areas where there is a high need but limited resources. Since 2010 when this event started, over $400,000 has been raised, which has helped feed over 1,800 children through the Backpack program—a program that provides food to kids during the school year, especially during weekends and school vacations—and about 2,000 families through the Mobile Pantry program.
“It never ceases to amaze me,” said Brian Barks, director of development and public relations, Food Bank for the Heartland. “The generosity, passion and culture of wanting to help and give back from the folks at ConAgra Mills and SFS is truly inspiring. They genuinely loved putting the event together, and they pulled it off without a hitch. It was an absolute thrill that they did this for us. It is the second largest single-day funding for the Food Bank of the Heartland.”
“Each year this event continues to grow,” said Bill Stoufer, president, ConAgra Mills. “It is an opportunity for us to share our passion and commitment to give back to our community with many of our customers and industry partners. I am proud to team up with the Food Bank for the Heartland and am thankful for our generous 35 sponsors and 200 golfers who participated in this year’s event.”
The ConAgra Mills and SFS golf event builds on a 20-year commitment by ConAgra Foods and the ConAgra Foods Foundation to end child hunger. Since 1993, ConAgra Foods has donated more than $50 million to nonprofit organizations aggressively pursuing sustainable solutions to end child hunger. This includes a five-year, $10 million pledge from the ConAgra Foods Foundation to Feeding America, the largest donation ever made to Feeding America specifically to find solutions to end child hunger. To date, ConAgra Foods has also donated more than 300 million pounds of food to Feeding America member food banks across the country. In 2012, the company donated the equivalent of 1.8 million meals per month to Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger relief organization, which has a network of 200 member food banks.
ConAgra Foods, Inc., (NYSE: CAG) is one of North America’s largest packaged food companies. Its balanced portfolio includes consumer brands found in 97 percent of America's households, the largest private brand packaged food business in North America, and a strong commercial and foodservice business. Consumers can find recognized brands such as Banquet®, Chef Boyardee®, Egg Beaters®, Healthy Choice®, Hebrew National®, Hunt’s®, Marie Callender’s®, Orville Redenbacher’s® popcorn, PAM®, Peter Pan®, Reddi-wip®, Slim Jim® beef jerky, Snack Pack® and many other ConAgra Foods brands, plus food sold under private brand labels, in grocery, convenience, mass merchandise, club and drug stores. ConAgra Foods also has a strong commercial foods presence, supplying frozen potato and sweet potato products as well as other vegetable, spice, bakery and grain products to a variety of well-known restaurants, foodservice operators and commercial customers. ConAgra Foods operates ReadySetEat.com, an interactive recipe website that provides consumers with dinner ideas and more. For more information, please visit us at www.conagrafoods.com.
Food Bank for the Heartland is a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that acts as a central clearinghouse through which the food industry and community may donate surplus food to feed hungry individuals, families and children. Food is distributed to more than 325 member agencies in 77 counties in Nebraska and 16 counties in western Iowa. Food Bank for the Heartland distributed over 12 million pounds of product in fiscal year 2013 and served over 250,000 different people in need in the Heartland. For more information, visit www.FoodBankHeartland.org.
The ConAgra Foods Foundation, through its Nourish Today, Flourish Tomorrow platform, is dedicated to raising awareness of the more than 16 million children in America who are at risk of hunger and don’t have enough food to live active, healthful lives. It aggressively pursues sustainable solutions in the fight against child hunger. And the Foundation is committed to building a community of people who are passionate about ensuring that all kids have access to the food and facts they need to eat nutritiously while living balanced lifestyles and succeeding in school and life. ConAgra Foods Foundation invests in national and local partnerships with high-impact, not-for-profit organizations, such as Share Our Strength and Feeding America, that take an innovative approach to addressing needs in the core areas of hunger and nutrition education. For more information, please visit www.conagrafoodsfoundation.org or www.facebook.com/ConAgraFoodsFoundation. The ConAgra Foods Foundation is funded solely by ConAgra Foods.
