Feeding America Asks You to ''Give a Meal'' This Holiday Season

Rachael Ray will serve as campaign's first celebrity ambassador; Bank of America offers to triple your giving

CHICAGO, Nov. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Instead of another tie or bathrobe, give your friends and loved ones a chance to help Feeding America feed people facing hunger this holiday season and throughout the year.  

Give a Meal, which launches today, gives holiday shoppers a chance to support a great cause by helping provide food to the nearly 49 million Americans who struggle with hunger. Every $1 donated to the Give a Meal campaign helps provide eight meals to people in need.

"The holidays are a perfect time to give a gift that can make a difference in someone's life," said Vicki Escarra, President and CEO of Feeding America. "With Give a Meal, even a small donation will go a long way in helping make sure that people have something to eat this holiday season."

Emmy Award winning talk show host Rachael Ray will serve as the first celebrity ambassador for the campaign. Her Yum-o! Organization has committed a matching grant to Feeding America's Produce Program in conjunction with the campaign.

Bank of America is the campaign's signature partner and for every $1 donated via feedingamerica.org/BankofAmerica or bankofamerica.com/give, the bank will contribute an additional $2, up to a total match of $500,000. This is in addition to a one million dollar contribution to Feeding America. 

"With one out of six Americans struggling to find their next meal, ensuring that vulnerable populations have access to basic needs such as food is a critical component to revitalizing our nation's economy," said Kerry Sullivan, President, Bank of America Charitable Foundation.  "In response to this crisis, nonprofit organizations like Feeding America play a crucial role to help individuals and families gain stability through vital programs and services, which ultimately strengthens communities across the U.S.  This holiday season, we are thrilled to partner with Feeding America once again to help feed those at risk of hunger."

Rachael Ray's match will help provide fresh fruits and vegetables to Americans struggling with hunger. For every donation to Give a Meal, her Yum-o! Organization will make a donation to Feeding America's Produce Program, up to 2 million servings of produce.  (Yum-o! has donated the monetary equivalent of up to 2 million servings of produce to Feeding America.)

"My Yum-o! Organization has been a part of the fight against childhood hunger in America since 2007. We are honored to support Feeding America's campaign to ensure that millions of hungry kids have access to nutritious food," Ray said. "This holiday season, give the gift of food and make it possible for Feeding America to provide meals to people struggling to put food on the table."

Give a Meal is also being backed by Feeding America Entertainment Council members, including Chef Mario Batali, host of ABC's The Chew, Australian chef and television star Curtis Stone, rock sensations Benji and Joel Madden, Entertainment Tonight correspondent Samantha Harris, Grammy Award winning singer Monica, Food Network star Ellie Krieger, chef and TV host Sara Gore, TV food critic and host Katie Lee, the platinum selling band OneRepublic, actress Debi Mazar and chef Gabriele Corcos.

The issue of hunger is especially critical during the holiday season when the need is particularly acute. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reports that nearly 49 million Americans are facing hunger. Of those, more than 16 million are children – or more than 1 in 5 children are at risk of hunger in this country.

Bank of America's support is part of an ongoing effort to address critical economic and social issues in the communities it serves through the bank's Gift for Opportunity™ fund, established to extend the impact of customer and employee donations made to help address the growing demand for food assistance in both large and small communities during a critical time of the year.

Along with Bank of America, a number of other corporate partners have agreed to team up with Feeding America to fight hunger this holiday season. Corporate leaders such as Dillard's, HMSHost, HoneyBaked Ham, and Winn-Dixie have all also joined the Give a Meal effort and are partnering with their customers to donate meals this holiday season.

A running counter will be displayed on the Give a Meal webpage to tally the number of meals that have been donated during the campaign.

"Fighting hunger requires a strong partnership between charities, businesses and individuals alike," Escarra said. "Hunger is simply one battle we cannot afford to lose."

About Feeding America
Feeding America provides low-income individuals and families with the fuel to survive and even thrive. As the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity, our network members supply food to more than 37 million Americans each year, including 14 million children and 3 million seniors. Serving the entire United States, more than 200 member food banks support 61,000 agencies that address hunger in all of its forms. For more information on how you can fight hunger in your community and across the country, visit http://www.feedingamerica.org. Find us on Facebook at facebook.com/FeedingAmerica or follow our news on Twitter at twitter.com/FeedingAmerica.

About Rachael Ray
Rachael Ray is best known as the host of the hit syndicated Emmy Award winning daytime television show, Rachael Ray, produced by CBS Television Distribution in association with Harpo Productions, Scripps Networks and Watch Entertainment. Rachael's warmth, energy, and boundless curiosity also reaches scores of fans through her popular Food Network shows, bestselling cookbooks, her own
line of cookware created by Meyer, knives by Furitechnics, signature food ingredients by Colavita and lifestyle magazine Every Day with Rachael Ray. In 2007, Rachael launched the Yum-o! Organization, a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking. In 2008 she partnered with Ainsworth Pet Nutrition to create a line of pet food, of which all her proceeds are donated to organizations that help animals in need. For more information, visit www.rachaelray.com.

About the Yum-o! Organization
Yum-o!® is Rachael Ray's nonprofit organization that empowers kids and their families to develop healthy relationships with food and cooking by teaching families to cook, feeding hungry kids and funding cooking education and scholarships. By providing the tools to create easy, affordable and delicious meals, Yum-o! is changing the way America eats. For more information about the Yum-o! Organization, visit www.yum-o.org.

Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy
Building on a long-standing tradition of investing in the communities it serves, Bank of America is delivering on a 10-year goal to donate $2 billion to nonprofit organizations engaged in improving the health and vitality of their neighborhoods. Funded by Bank of America, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation gave more than $200 million in 2010, making the bank one of the largest corporate cash donors in the United States.  As a global company serving clients through operations in more than 40 countries, Bank of America approaches investing through a national strategy under which it works with local leaders to identify and meet the most pressing needs of individual communities.  Reaffirming a commitment to develop and sustain a culture of service, bank associate volunteers contributed more than one million hours in 2010 to enhance the quality of life in their communities worldwide. For more information about Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy, please visit www.bankofamerica.com/foundation

Contact(s):

Shannon Traeger
Feeding America
312.641.6422                                       
[email protected]                 

Charlie Dougiello
Rachel Ray
646.340.1766                                     
[email protected]

SOURCE Feeding America