Chrysler Group LLC Employees Drive to Fight Hunger at Thanksgiving in Boone County, Ill.

BELVIDERE, Ill., Nov. 18, 2011 /PRNewswire/ --

• Chrysler Group LLC's Thanksgiving Food Drive will feed more than 1,000 hungry people in Boone County Area
• Thousands more are expected to be helped by food drives in Southeast Michigan; Kokomo, Ind.; Toledo, Ohio; and Washington, D.C.

Chrysler Group, The Chrysler Foundation and the UAW, are helping to make this holiday season brighter for hungry people in the Boone County area.

Today at 11:30 a.m. CT, a caravan of vehicles filled with food donated by Chrysler Group's Belvidere Assembly Plant employees arrived at the Belvidere/Boone County Food Pantry in Capron, Ill. Over the past week, hundreds of employees have donated non-perishable food including canned vegetables, cranberry sauce, fruit, pumpkin pie filling as well as stuffing mix and potatoes – everything to provide a traditional Thanksgiving Day dinner. And to make the meal complete, The Chrysler Foundation provided the food bank with a grant to distribute approximately 150 frozen turkeys.

"Not so long ago, when Chrysler needed critical support to get on the road to recovery, our communities stood behind us," said Jody Trapasso, President – The Chrysler Foundation. "Our food drive is an opportunity to help those most in need and to show gratitude to our communities."

Similar deliveries will take place in Southeast Michigan, Toledo, Ohio; and Kokomo, Ind., where Chrysler Group employees conducted food drives to benefit the Salvation Army and other local food banks. In Washington, D.C., Chrysler Group and The Chrysler Foundation will provide a grant to SOME (So Others Might Eat) in support of their efforts to feed senior citizens during the holiday. SOME is an interfaith, community-based organization that serves the homeless and destitute in the District of Columbia.

The food drive is expected to feed more than 1,000 people in the Boone County area. In total, more than 12,000 people in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Washington, D.C. will be assisted by the Chrysler Group Thanksgiving food drive.

About The Chrysler Foundation

The Chrysler Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Chrysler Group LLC, was established in 1953 as a nonprofit entity, which has the sole purpose of enriching the physical, educational and cultural needs of its communities, including arts and culture, education, diversity, youth development and disaster relief.

In the past year, the Foundation provided support for tsunami relief efforts in Japan; tornado relief efforts in Dundee, Mich., and Perrysburg, Ohio; and earthquake relief in Haiti. The Foundation has also supported flood relief and cleanup programs in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 2008; wildfire disaster relief in San Diego in 2007; and Hurricane Katrina aid in 2005. Many of these initiatives also involved volunteer and in-kind support from Chrysler Group employees, retirees and dealers.

SOURCE Chrysler Group LLC