BJ's Wholesale Club Announces $100,000 Grant to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey
Grant will help secure, store and distribute fresh, healthy food to people facing hunger
KEARNY, N.J., Sept. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- BJ's Wholesale Club today announced a $100,000 donation from the BJ's Charitable Foundation to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, a Feeding America® member food bank. The donation will help the Community FoodBank of New Jersey's network of partner agencies increase their capacity to distribute perishable food across the region.
BJ's grant to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey is part of BJ's Charitable Foundation's $1 million donation to Feeding America®, the nation's largest domestic hunger-relief organization. The Community FoodBank of New Jersey is one of nine local food banks to benefit from BJ's $1 million donation, which is the foundation's largest single donation to any organization to date.
"BJ's is bringing a fresh approach to nourishing communities and helping families thrive, and we're proud to support the Community FoodBank of New Jersey," said Kirk Saville, executive director of the BJ's Charitable Foundation. "No one should have to worry about where to get their next meal, and we know that food banks face challenges in storing and distributing perishable foods. Our strategic partnership with Feeding America® is focused on building capacity for fresh food at local food banks so we can work together to put an end to hunger in our communities."
With BJ's $100,000 grant, the Community FoodBank of New Jersey will purchase equipment, including freezers, refrigerators and refrigerated storage containers, to expand the cold storage capacity of partner agencies and increase the distribution of perishable food. This equipment will help advance the shared goal of the FoodBank and its partners to get more fresh, nutritious food, including produce, dairy and lean proteins, to food insecure communities across New Jersey.
As the state's largest anti-hunger and anti-poverty organization, the FoodBank distributes more than 50 million pounds of food to over 1,000 nonprofit programs and partner agencies every year.
"We seek to fill the emptiness caused by hunger with food, help and hope, and we're grateful to have BJ's support in finding long-term solutions for hunger relief," said Debra Vizzi, president and CEO of the Community FoodBank of New Jersey. "Because of BJ's generous donation, more than one dozen of our partners will now have equipment to store and distribute more fresh, nutritious food that will reach people facing hunger in their communities."
The agencies benefiting from the grant include: Buddies of New Jersey, Inc. and Meals With A Mission in Bergen County; Allen Village CDC, Bethlehem French SDA Church, Manna From Heaven Food Pantry and The Kingdom Experience Church in Essex County; Secaucus Food Pantry and The Building Blocks of NJ in Hudson County; Salvation Army Dover and St. Matthew's Lutheran Church in Morris County; Seventh-Day Adventist Church in Passaic County; and Manna From Heaven Food Pantry and St. John The Apostle Church in Union County.
Since 2009, BJ's has provided ongoing support to Feeding America® through the BJ's Charitable Foundation and BJ's Feeding Communities® program, helping local food banks successfully expand their programs to reach wider and more diverse audiences.
In addition to capacity building grants from the BJ's Charitable Foundation, BJ's has secured over 50 million pounds of donated food, including fresh produce, frozen meats and fish, baked goods and dairy items through the BJ's Feeding Communities® program.
About BJ's Wholesale Club, Inc.
Headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts, BJ's is the leading operator of membership warehouse clubs in the Eastern United States. The company currently operates 215 clubs and 133 BJ's Gas® locations in 16 states.
BJ's provides a one-stop shopping destination filled with top-quality, leading brands, including its exclusive Wellsley Farms® and Berkley Jensen® brands, along with USDA Choice meats, premium produce and delicious organics, many in supermarket sizes. BJ's is also the only major membership warehouse club to accept all manufacturers' coupons and, for greater convenience, offers the most payment options.
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BJ's is wholly owned by affiliates of Leonard Green & Partners, CVC Capital Partners and its management team.
About Community FoodBank of New Jersey
The Community FoodBank of New Jersey, a member of Feeding America®, provides people across the state with food, help and hope. The FoodBank distributed over 50 million pounds of food last year to its more than 1,000 community partners including pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, mobile pantries, and child and senior feeding programs. More than 4.7 million times a year, someone in need is fed by the FoodBank's network of partners. For our neighbors, especially families, and for the volunteers and donors who support them, the Community FoodBank of New Jersey is the powerful change agent that fills the emptiness caused by hunger with the basic human essentials people need to survive.
About Feeding America®
Feeding America® is the largest 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 46 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.
SOURCE BJ's Wholesale Club
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