City Harvest Challenges New Yorkers To Raise $1.1 Million To Help Feed Children Across NYC
Skip Lunch Fight Hunger Campaign, Running from May 14 – 18, Invites Corporate Teams and Individuals to Help City Harvest Rescue and Deliver Enough Food to Feed 50,000 Children in Need This Summer
Press Release – New York, NY – May 8, 2018 – City Harvest, the world’s first food rescue organization, is challenging New Yorkers to raise $1.1 million to help feed New York City children through its annual fundraising campaign, Skip Lunch Fight Hunger. The campaign runs from May 14 – 18, 2018.
One in five children in our city don’t always know where their next meal is coming from. Many children rely on free school breakfasts and lunches as the only healthy meals they will get during the day. When school is out for the summer, families that are already struggling to make ends meet face the additional burden of having to provide these meals for their children.
Skip Lunch Fight Hunger asks participants to donate what they would spend on lunch to City Harvest to help ensure that all children in New York City have the nutritious food they need to thrive.
The campaign was created in 2002 by Dana Cowin, City Harvest Board and Food Council member and former editor-in-chief of Food & Wine magazine. Cowin joined City Harvest’s Board of Directors because she was impressed with the organization’s efficient food rescue model, and she wanted more people to know that even a small donation can make a big difference. She encouraged friends and colleagues to donate what they would spend on a coffee or lunch, and thus, helped create the Skip Lunch Fight Hunger campaign. A $15 donation to City Harvest helps feed 60 kids for a day. To date, the campaign has raised over $8 million.
Each year, thousands of New Yorkers participate in Skip Lunch Fight Hunger. Companies compete against each other to raise the most money, and teams devise creative ways to fundraise, including organizing bake sales in their offices, encouraging employees to donate at the cafeteria cash register, and hosting luncheons in their workplaces to raise awareness and donations. This year for the first time, the first 50 teams to raise $500 will receive a $500 match, generously provided by The Joyce & Daniel Cowin Foundation.
Funds raised from the campaign will directly support City Harvest’s efforts to rescue 59 million pounds of nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste and deliver it to hundreds of community food programs serving New York families all across the five boroughs. “City Harvest helps to provide fresh fruit and yogurt for many of our children who do not have access to these at home,” said Mary Sanchez, Director of Administration for Fresh Youth Initiatives, a City Harvest partner and community program that provides support for low-income, immigrant, and first-generation youth living in Washington Heights.
Individuals can register at www.cityharvest.org/skiplunch to be team captains. Skip Lunch Fight Hunger participants are encouraged to donate any day or days during the week of May 14 – 18, and those who donate $45 or more online will receive a voucher in June for a special thank-you treat from Pret A Manger, which has donated their unsold food at the end of every night to City Harvest for the past 18 years. Additionally, in New York City from May 14 through May 18, Pret’s signature Harvest Cookie will be renamed the City Harvest Cookie, and 100% of proceeds from sales that week will be donated to City Harvest. Every cookie sold will help feed 8 children for a day.
“We are thrilled to be a part of this campaign and for the continued opportunity to work alongside an organization that shares our values and commitment to food rescue,” said Jo Brett, President of Pret A Manger U.S. “Our longstanding partnership with City Harvest is a testament to our commitment to helping New Yorkers in need – together we have donated over 5 million meals.”
Skip Lunch Fight Hunger is generously sponsored by BlackRock, Blackstone, Citi, The Cowin Foundation, CME Group Community Foundation, KPMG, Krasdale Foods, London Stock Exchange Group, Pret A Manger, and Tasting Table.
About City Harvest
City Harvest pioneered food rescue in 1982 and, this year, will collect 59 million pounds of excess food to help feed the nearly 1.3 million New Yorkers struggling to put meals on their tables. Through relationships with farms, grocers, restaurants, and manufacturers, City Harvest collects nutritious food that would otherwise go to waste and delivers it free of charge to 500 soup kitchens, food pantries and other community food programs across the five boroughs. In addition, our Healthy Neighborhoods initiative addresses long term food insecurity through community partnerships that work to increase access to affordable and wholesome food. To learn more about food rescue, Healthy Neighborhoods and fighting hunger in New York City, visit cityharvest.org.
Never miss another article! Join Devin here: http://bit.ly/joindevin.
The post City Harvest Challenges New Yorkers To Raise $1.1 Million To Help Feed Children Across NYC appeared first on GoodCrowd.info.