Sodexo Foundation Recognizes Weston, Wis. Youth for Engaging Local Residents to Fight Hunger

WASHINGTON, June 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- While hunger continues to affect a growing population in communities across America, a mobilized youth culture may well be the key to the solution. Students from kindergarten to graduate school are actively engaged in service-oriented volunteer work, many of them focused on eliminating hunger. Peyton Medick, an eighth grade student from Weston, Wis. is a perfect example. Tonight she will be recognized at the 13th Annual Sodexo Foundation Dinner in Washington, D.C. as a national 2012 Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Scholarship recipient for her extensive work to end hunger. As part of that recognition, Medick will receive a $5,000 scholarship and a $5,000 matching grant presented in her name to the hunger-related charity of her choice, Covenant Community Presbyterian Church Food Pantry.

The journey in her fight to end hunger began after Medick crossed paths with a young boy suffering the effects of hunger. She was only eight years old at the time, but the experience so moved her that she vowed to feed the hungry in her community. It also led to the 2007 founding of Peyton's Promise, which evolved from a single food drive to what is now a vast food distribution network that has collected more than 60 tons of food and $20,000 for 11 food pantries nationwide.

"Most people don't even realize the extent of childhood hunger in our country, or that 'food insecure' families may be living right next door," said Robert A. Stern, Chair, Sodexo Foundation. "Only by driving awareness at the local and national levels can we even get to the point of implementing change, and that's exactly what students like Peyton are doing."

For her 13th birthday last year, Peyton invited friends to stand with her outside of a local grocery store, where she and friends provided "food donation shopping lists" to customers going into the store. The strategy was a huge success with the store selling out of several products that were then donated and eventually delivered to the local food program.

An estimated 5,000 families each month receive food supplied to these pantries by Peyton's Promise. Peyton's organization coordinates a variety of activities including year-round t-shirt and bracelet sales that fund the purchase of holiday hams and turkeys, canned food drives and even a youth mobilization program called Peyton's Advocates, which works to motivate and empower students to address the issue of hunger.

Wise for her age, Peyton believes that, "If everyone does a little bit, no one will have to do a lot."

Also named as national Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Scholarship recipients for 2012 are: Camille Posard of Encinitas, Calif. (High School Senior), Alexander Epstein of New York, N.Y. (College Junior), Rebecca Fawns of Corvallis, Mont. (High School Senior) and Ruthi Solari of Solana Beach, Calif. (Graduate Student).

In addition to the national scholarship recipients, 20 Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Regional Honorees will each receive a $1,000 grant in their name to support the hunger-related charity of their choice. The 2012 regional honorees are:

Essence M. Agee, Gautier, Miss.
Senior at Gautier High School

Amber Banks, Seattle, Wash.
Graduate Student at University of Washington-Seattle Campus

Sibo Cai, San Diego, Calif.
Senior at La Jolla Country Day School

Nicholas Cobb, Allen, Texas
Sophomore at Allen High School

Zach Harmon, New Berlin, Wis.
Seventh Grader at New Berlin West Middle School

Olivia Hodge, Blacksburg, Va.
Eighth Grader at Blacksburg Middle School

Hajja Kamara, Tampa, Fla.
Junior at University of South Florida

Chad Kamen, Prospect, Ky.
Eighth Grader at Kentucky Country Day

Will Lourcey, Fort Worth, Texas
Third Grader at Tanglewood Elementary School

Kathryn Marsh-Soloway, Woodbridge, Conn.
Junior at Washington and Lee University

Ravi Patel, Nashville, Tenn.
Graduate Student at Vanderbilt University

Gloria Patterson, Saint Ann, Mo.
Junior at Kaplan University

Jeffrey C. Peterson, Minooka, Ill.
Graduate Student at Olivet Nazarene University

Jackie Price, Derwood, Md.
Senior at Colonel Zadok Magruder High School

Andrew Reuss, Madison, Ind.
Freshman at Hillsdale College

Roseana Rodriguez, Hialeah, Fla.
Senior at Westland Hialeah Senior High School

Ben Simon, Takoma Park, Md.
Senior at University of Maryland-College Park

Jacklyn Marie Sullivan, Wantagh, N.Y.
Senior at General Douglas MacArthur High School

Brian M. Wong, Alameda, Calif.
Senior at Alameda High School

Michael Zimmerman, New York, N.Y.
Graduate Student at Fordham University

The Stephen J. Brady STOP Hunger Scholarship is named for Sodexo Foundation's founder and former president, who was an unstoppable champion in the fight to end hunger. Thanks to Steve's efforts, which made these scholarships possible, an emerging generation of leaders now joins the fight against hunger. To date, Sodexo Foundation has recognized 90 STOP Hunger Regional Honorees with grants totaling $90,000 for their hunger-relief charities. In addition, it has awarded 30 students with $260,000 in scholarships and matching grants for the hunger-relief charities of their choice.

ABOUT SODEXO'S FIGHT AGAINST HUNGER
Sodexo Inc. and Sodexo Foundation work to help end hunger in the United States. Sodexo Foundation is an independent 501(c)(3) non-profit with the mission to end childhood hunger. The foundation works to ensure that every child in the United States, especially those most at-risk, grows up with dependable access to enough nutritious food to enable them to lead a healthy, productive life. Sodexo Foundation cultivates and maintains strategic partnerships with regional and national hunger relief entities and youth mobilization organizations — all part of Sodexo's STOP Hunger Initiative, its global program to end hunger and malnutrition in the communities where it operates. Sodexo is headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md. and funds all administrative costs for Sodexo Foundation, which since 1999 has made more than $17 million in grants to end childhood hunger. Visit www.SodexoFoundation.org for more information.

SOURCE Sodexo, Inc.