Citizens Bank Renews Partnership with Feeding America® to Combat Hunger

Bank’s commitment will fund 20 local markets this year including COVID-19 relief

PROVIDENCE, R.I.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For the third consecutive year, Citizens Bank will join forces with Feeding America^®, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, contributing $1 million as a Leadership-level partner to further broaden and deepen its efforts to fight hunger. As part of this contribution, Citizens directed $133,000 to Feeding America’s COVID-19 Response Fund initiative, focused on emergency food relief and support for food banks throughout the US.

The renewed relationship follows a successful two-year partnership which has brought funding into local markets and seeded Feeding America’s Ending Hunger program. In 2020, the biggest need for Feeding America and its food bank affiliates will be COVID-19 relief, and Citizens has worked with their local food partners to enable them to prioritize their funding as needed.

“Our partnership with Feeding America makes a tremendous impact across the communities we serve and beyond, particularly now because the need is so great,” said Bruce Van Saun, Chairman and CEO, Citizens Financial Group. “The way they have mobilized to help local food banks do what they do best – provide food to people in need – is vital to helping our communities recover.”

In 2019, through the Citizens Helping Citizens Fight Hunger initiative, which includes its partnership with Feeding America, the bank helped provide 12 million meals* to people in need. Looking forward, Citizens anticipates Feeding America playing a key role as communities recover by working to help ensure that those in need do not go hungry.

“Before the pandemic, about 35 million people in the United States were food insecure. Because of this crisis, we are estimating that 1 in 6 people may face hunger this year,” said Claire Babineaux-Fontenot, CEO at Feeding America. “We are grateful for our partnership with Citizens Bank, and we appreciate their willingness to step up and help communities in need.”

Citizens’ has a commitment to combating hunger. Citizens Helping Citizens Fight Hunger initiative is rooted in the belief that when people and communities reach their potential, we all thrive. More information on Citizens Helping Citizens Fight Hunger is available here.

*$1 helps Feeding America provide at least 10 meals through local member food banks.

About Citizens Financial Group, Inc.

Citizens Financial Group, Inc. is one of the nation’s oldest and largest financial institutions, with $179.9 billion in assets as of June 30, 2020. Headquartered in Providence, Rhode Island, Citizens offers a broad range of retail and commercial banking products and services to individuals, small businesses, middle-market companies, large corporations and institutions. Citizens helps its customers reach their potential by listening to them and by understanding their needs in order to offer tailored advice, ideas and solutions. In Consumer Banking, Citizens provides an integrated experience that includes mobile and online banking, a 24/7 customer contact center and the convenience of approximately 2,700 ATMs and approximately 1,000 branches in 11 states in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. Consumer Banking products and services include a full range of banking, lending, savings, wealth management and small business offerings. In Commercial Banking, Citizens offers a broad complement of financial products and solutions, including lending and leasing, deposit and treasury management services, foreign exchange, interest rate and commodity risk management solutions, as well as loan syndication, corporate finance, merger and acquisition, and debt and equity capital markets capabilities.

About Feeding America

Feeding America® is the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, we provide meals to more than 40 million people each year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; educates the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.