Ford Volunteers Help Feed the Hungry in Local Communities During Season of Giving & Sharing

DEARBORN, Mich., Dec. 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- 

• The Ford Volunteer Corps is helping to create a better world with a Ford Accelerated Action Day focused on feeding the hungry.
• Ford has invested $75,000 in food and supplies to help nonprofit partners and Ford volunteers stock pantry shelves, cook & serve meals, and pack food boxes.
• The Ford Volunteer Corps also is holding a Winter Coat and Jacket Drive for children and families in southeast Michigan.  

The Ford Volunteer Corps has dispatched hundreds of Ford (NYSE: F) employees and retirees into local communities to help feed the hungry on a Ford Accelerated Action Day.

Hundreds of thousands of people in southeast Michigan struggle to find food each and every day. Ford employees and local nonprofit hunger relief agencies are teaming up to feed people in shelters, missions and family centers. MODEL Teams of Ford volunteers are collecting and sorting food, cooking and serving meals, and packing food boxes.

"Many of our neighbors are suffering as they struggle each day to find food for themselves and their families," said Jim Vella, president, Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services. "Ford employees are thankful we're able to share our time and resources with people in need."

Many of the organizations participating in today's volunteer effort split $75,000 in Ford grants to buy food and other items needed to complete their projects. Those partners include:

• Capuchin Soup Kitchen, Detroit – serve lunch & pack emergency food boxes
• Cass Community Social Services, Detroit – prepare 165 meals for families and disabled
• COTS – Peggy's Place, Detroit – serve meals, pack & deliver food boxes
• Detroit Rescue Mission Ministries, Detroit – help set-up, staff and cook for luncheon
• Focus Hope, Detroit – pack holiday food boxes for area seniors
• Food Gatherers, Ann Arbor – pack 720 food boxes containing 25 meals each
• Lighthouse of Oakland County, Pontiac – pack emergency food kits for 800 families
• Matrix Human Services, Detroit – assemble 100 food baskets and wrap gifts for kids
• Ruth Ellis Center, Highland Park – stock food pantry, prepare meals and decorate halls
• St. Leo's Soup Kitchen, Detroit – prepare and serve 200 meals, distribute clothes
• Salvation Army-Harbor Light, Detroit – ride Bread & Bed truck, distribute food, pack lunches
• Society of St. Vincent de Paul, Detroit – help move and expand food depot
• Southwest Housing Solutions, Detroit – decorate, assemble holiday food kits  
• Veteran's Haven, Gleaners, Detroit – assemble "pantry packs" for needy veterans  

This Ford Accelerated Action Day is one of many efforts supported by Ford each year to help feed the hungry, including an 11 year partnership with Newman's Own® that has contributed 103 refrigerated trucks to help Feeding America deliver more than 176 million meals to families across the country. Ford Motor Company Fund also has provided Transit Connect Mobile Food Pantries to 21 community food banks that deliver food to hard to reach places in several states.

In addition to today's activities, the Ford Volunteer Corps held a Winter Coat and Jacket Drive in southeast Michigan to help keep children and families warm during the winter months.

"Food and warmth are basic human needs that cannot be taken for granted when you are cold and hungry," said Janet Lawson, director, Ford Volunteer Corps. "We are simply reaching out to let people know we care and are ready to help."

About Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services

Ford Motor Company Fund and Community Services works with community partners to advance driving safety, education and American heritage and community life. The Ford Motor Company Fund has operated for more than 60 years with ongoing funding from Ford Motor Company. The award-winning Ford Driving Skills for Life program teaches new drivers through a variety of hands-on and interactive methods. Innovation in education is encouraged through national programs that enhance high school learning and provide college scholarships and university grants. Through the Ford Volunteer Corps, more than 27,000 Ford employees and retirees each year work on projects that better their communities in dozens of countries. For more information, visit www.community.ford.com.

SOURCE Ford Motor Company