Northern Illinois Food Bank to Feed More Children Throughout Thirteen Illinois Counties
Organization Receives $250,000 from Ronald McDonald House Charities Through Feeding America
ST. CHARLES, Ill., March 8, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of a $500,000 donation to Feeding America from Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC), Northern Illinois Food Bank will receive $250,000 to increase distribution of nutritious meals and provide nutrition education to children at risk of hunger in our communities.
Northern Illinois Food Bank (NIFB) plans to use this generous RMHC donation to help its youngest neighbors throughout thirteen counties. The Food Bank's Child Nutrition Program feeds over 5,000 children daily through SuperSnacks, Hot Supper Sites, the BackPack Program, and Summer Food Service, and 48% of the people served by NIFB's network of food pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters are children.
"RMHC's generosity comes at a time when the need to help children in our communities is great and growing," said Pete Schaefer, President and CEO of NIFB. "In addition to feeding hungry kids, we will be able to provide nutrition education and programming for children, which will foster healthier bodies and minds for learning."
With nearly 1 in 4 children living with food insecurity in northern Illinois, childhood hunger is a real problem and continues to grow. NIFB has made feeding hungry children a strategic focus, and provided 1.1 million meals to kids last year. The RMHC donation will allow the Food Bank to expand its existing Child Nutrition Program to feed more kids and create educational programming to tackle serious issues such as childhood obesity and Type 2 diabetes. These innovative programs will then be evaluated and replicated by Feeding America for food banks to create a nationwide impact on childhood hunger.
About Northern Illinois Food Bank
Northern Illinois Food Bank (NIFB) is a non-for-profit Corporation that provides food to all those in need through its 665 food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, youth activity centers and other food assistance sites in thirteen counties: Boone, DuPage, DeKalb, Grundy, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Will and Winnebago. NIFB handles and distributes donated, government, and purchased food to more than 61,600 different people each week. In FY 2010 NIFB distributed over 35 million pounds of food and was named the 2010 Food Bank of the Year by Feeding America. NIFB is building a new Food Distribution and Community Nutrition Center to enable them to handle more food more efficiently to meet the increasing demand.
For more information contact: |
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Jarrod Daab |
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Northern Illinois Food Bank |
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(Work) 630-443-6910, ext. 136 |
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(Cell) 630-290-2364 |
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SOURCE Northern Illinois Food Bank
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