Perdue Delivers $10,000 Grant and 10,000 Pounds of Protein to the Foodbank of the Eastern Shore
SALISBURY, MD. (Wednesday, June 21, 2017) — As part of its commitment to fight hunger on Virginia’s rural Eastern Shore, Perdue Farms has donated $10,000 and delivered 10,000 pounds of protein to the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore to help feed families, children and seniors who are food-insecure.
Through the Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Perdue Farms, the $20,000 grant continues the company’s support for the Foodbank’s BackPack Program. Combined with the protein donation, the Eastern Shore Branch of the Foodbank will be able to continue programs, like the BackPack program and distribute food to residents in Northampton and Accomack counties, providing more than 60,000 meals to those facing issues related to hunger.
“Being able to provide balanced and nutritious meals to those struggling with hunger insecurities is a major part of our mission work and our effort to eliminate hunger in our community,” said Charmin L. Horton, Eastern Shore Branch Manager for the Foodbank. “Our partnership with organizations like Perdue have helped us in this mission. Their dedication to the Foodbank and the community speaks volumes of their commitment to ending hunger here on the Eastern Shore. We are grateful for the opportunity to continue to partner with Perdue.”
“At Perdue, we are committed to helping those struggling with hunger within the communities in which we work and live,” said Kim Nechay, executive director of the Perdue Foundation. “We have seen firsthand the impact of the Foodbank’s BackPack Program, which provides nutritious food every other weekend to at-risk families, making certain that no child will go hungry when they are not in school. We are thrilled to continue our support of this and other worthwhile efforts through funding from the Foundation and the deliveries of protein to help provide nutritious meals to children, seniors and families facing hunger in Northampton and Accomack counties,” she said.
The BackPack Program is a nationally replicated initiative providing nourishing food to children at high risk for hunger, picking up where school meal programs leave off. Each distribution provides a child with five nutritious weekend/holiday meals, including main course items, oatmeal, fruit, vegetables and healthy snacks.
“We know for a fact that food-insecure children often rely on the free and reduced school meal program for consistent nutrition during the week,” said Charmin. “But the question is, ‘What happens to them over the weekend when there is no school?’ The answer is the BackPack Program.
About Perdue Farms
We’re a third-generation, family owned, U.S. food and agriculture company. Through our belief in responsible food and agriculture, we are empowering consumers, customers and farmers through trusted choices in products and services. We focus on continuously improving everything we do, constantly learning, and sharing those insights across different production methods. That innovative approach is driving change throughout the company and onto farms. This continuous advancement is leading us toward our vision of becoming the most trusted name in food and agricultural products. The PERDUE® brand is the number-one brand of fresh chicken in the U.S., and Perdue AgriBusiness is an international agricultural products and services company. As we approach our 100th anniversary in 2020, our path forward is about getting better, not just bigger. We never use drugs for growth promotion in raising poultry and livestock, and we are actively advancing our animal welfare programs. Our brands are leaders in no-antibiotics-ever chicken, turkey and pork, and in USDA-certified organic chicken. We’ve increased our support for the family farm by creating new markets, including specialty crops. Through agricultural services, we give farmers more options for the acre, including conversion to organic production and products and services that increase the sustainability of conventional agriculture. Learn more at www.perduefarms.com.
About the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore
The Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, a member of Feeding America® and the Federation of Virginia Food Banks, has been providing food for those facing hunger since 1981. To date, we have distributed over 246 million meals throughout our service area, which includes the cities of Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Suffolk, Franklin, and Virginia Beach as well as the counties of Southampton, Northampton, Sussex, Isle of Wight, and Accomack. For up-to-date information on the Foodbank, visit www.foodbankonline.org.