Vertically Integrated Partnership, Annie's Fun and Sodexo Hold Special Reception in Seattle to 'Stop Hunger' in the Pacific Northwest

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Sep 21, 2010, 09:25 ET

Award presented by VIP to Linda Nageotte of Food Lifeline in recognition of her efforts to help feed those in need; Annie's Fun makes major donation to Sodexo Foundation to "Stop Hunger"

SEATTLE, Sept. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On September 15th, the Vertically Integrated Partnership, Annie's Fun and Sodexo held a special reception in Seattle to "Stop Hunger" in the Pacific Northwest.

Over 40 people attended the reception, including many community, corporate and legislative leaders (such as Washington State Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Brian Hatfield), and several representatives from charitable organizations and food banks (such as Food Lifeline, Second Harvest, White Center Food Bank, etc.).

During the reception, a special award was presented by Vertically Integrated Partnership co-chairs Kerwin Higashi of Sodexo and Blaine Hirai of Annie's Fun/Hirai Farms to Linda Nageotte, Executive Director of Food Lifeline (http://www.foodlifeline.org), in recognition of her outstanding efforts and work to help feed those in need in Washington State.

Following the award presentation, Blaine Hirai, the Chair of Annie's Fun, surprised the attendees at the reception and presented a $25,000 check from Annie's Fun to the Sodexo Foundation to support its efforts to "Stop Hunger" in the United States and throughout the world.

The Vertically Integrated Partnership is a coalition of farmers, food processors, food distributors and food service companies, co-chaired by Sodexo and Annie's Fun/Hirai Farms, that are working together to help stop hunger in the Pacific Northwest. Since 2008, the Vertically Integrated Partnership (i.e., Sodexo, Hirai Farms, Annie's Fun, etc.) has donated over 2.5 million pounds of food (i.e., potatoes, sweet corn, onions, beans, canned foods, etc.) to many food banks in the Pacific Northwest, including Northwest Harvest, Second Harvest, Food Lifeline, White Center Food Bank, Quincy Community Food Bank, Wenatchee Food Bank, etc. The Vertically Integrated Partnership (VIP) has a goal of donating another 2 million pounds of food in the next 12 to 16 months.

Earlier in the day, the Vertically Integrated Partnership (including Sodexo, Annie's Fun, Hirai Farms, etc.) donated 8,000 pounds of potatoes to the Bellingham Food Bank and another 48,000 pounds of potatoes to Food Lifeline in Shoreline. Over 50 volunteers from Sodexo and Western Washington University were on hand to help to unload the potatoes in Bellingham (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4gKoiVvVX8).

On a related note, following are links regarding some of the other recent activities and/or events that the Vertically Integrated Partnership, Sodexo, Annie's Fun and Hirai Farms have done to help "Stop Hunger" in the Pacific Northwest:

To see photos from the September 15th Vertically Integrated Partnership, Annie's Fun and Sodexo Special Reception in Seattle to "Stop Hunger" in the Pacific Northwest, please click on the following link: http://picasaweb.google.com/113801520809907951729/091510VIPSodexoAnnieSFunSpecialReceptionInSeattleToHelpStopHunger?feat=directlink

For more information, please contact Blaine Hirai or Pat Boss of [email protected], [email protected] or 509-693-7811.

About Sodexo

Sodexo is a leading Food and Facilities Management services company. Sodexo has an ongoing commitment to help people who face hunger and malnutrition in the communities it serves. The company's various programs are coordinated under its "STOP Hunger" (http://www.sodexofoundation.org/) initiative, which now operates in 25 countries. Sodexo employees have contributed to more than 200 hunger-related NGOs and community-based groups since STOP Hunger's inception more than ten years ago. With the global problem of hunger and malnutrition now afflicting more than a billion people, Sodexo and its 355,000 employees across the globe are making a strong commitment to help donate food, serve meals and raise money for needy people in local communities.

About Annie's Fun

"Annie's Fun" (http://www.anniesfun.org) is a non-profit, charitable 501(c)(3) organization located in the Pacific Northwest that was formed by Blaine Hirai and the Hirai Family in 2005 to help those in need. The primary mission of Annie's Fun is to help children and economically disadvantaged communities.

This press release was issued through eReleases(R). For more information, visit eReleases Press Release Distribution at http://www.ereleases.com.

SOURCE Vertically Integrated Partnership