At a time when more and more families in South Florida face the threat of going hungry, Feeding South Florida announced recently that Chase will donate two state-of-the-art refrigerated food delivery trucks to supply South Florida’s hungry with fruits, vegetables, dairy products and other fresh foods. Chase also generously donated funds to operate each of these trucks for the first year.
The trucks will be used to collect and distribute food to the more than one million people in need served by Feeding South Florida in Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach Counties.
“To meet the growing demand for emergency food, Feeding South Florida is on target to distribute more than 31 million pounds of food by December 2011 – a remarkable 29 percent increase over last year’s distribution of 24 million pounds,” said Judith Gatti, executive director of Feeding South Florida. “These two new vehicles in our fleet will boost our efforts significantly and help us reach more of our neighbors in need. We are deeply grateful to Chase for this generous donation.”
More than 690,000 people in South Florida live in poverty, 214,000 of whom are children, according to the Florida Impact report and the U.S. Census. The unemployment rate for Florida currently stands at 12 percent. Among those served by Feeding South Florida, 87 percent are food insecure, meaning they don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
“Our service area’s population is greater than the states of Delaware, Rhode Island and Connecticut combined,” said Maria Millares, chair of Feeding South Florida’s board of directors. “The magnitude of our population calls for large operational support, and this gift from Chase will make great strides to better feed those in need here in South Florida.”
According to Hunger in America 2010, 47 percent of those served by Feeding South Florida must choose between paying for food and paying for utilities. Approximately 34 percent had to choose between paying for food or paying for medicine.
“At JPMorgan Chase, we strive to give back to the local, underserved communities we serve in Florida, particularly when our efforts can enhance their quality of life,” said Guillermo Castillo, South Florida Market Commercial Banking President. “These refrigerated trucks better equip Feeding South Florida to deliver nutritious food to our local South Florida community, and we could not be more proud to be part of this hunger relief initiative.” In South Florida, the company has over 500 ATMs, almost 140 branches with plans to open 100 more in the next several years, and has about 3,000 local employees.
Chase announced its donation in South Florida as part of a $5 million national grant to Feeding America and its nationwide network of food banks. This donation marks the largest single corporate donation that Feeding America has received from a corporation to date. Feeding South Florida is a member of the Feeding America network.
The national donation will support hunger-fighting initiatives, supplying 34 trucks to 20 food banks in communities hit hard by the recession. The trucks’ destinations include Feeding America network food banks in 19 cities and local communities nationwide. With the new trucks, food banks can transport up to 1.5 million pounds of food — the equivalent of 1,171,185 additional meals — annually.
JPMorgan Chase has given nearly $9 million to help food bank and hunger related programs over the past 10 years, not including the recent donation to Feeding America. Chase’s donation to Feeding America will cover the costs of purchasing and operating food delivery trucks in the following communities:
| Atlanta
Dallas Detroit Denver Ft. Worth Houston |
Indianapolis
Jacksonville Los Angeles Mesa Miami Milwaukee New Orleans |
Newark
Orlando Phoenix Seattle Tampa Wilmington |
To learn more about hunger in South Florida and how you can help please visit: www.feedingsouthflorida.org
About Feeding South Florida
Feeding South Florida, formerly Daily Bread Food Bank, is a not-for-profit organization that distributes approximately 23 million pounds of food each year through a network of 800 other not-for-profit agencies in Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. Through member agency feeding programs for children in need, the mentally and physically challenged, battered women, the elderly, people living with HIV/AIDS, the homeless and the working poor, Feeding South Florida strives to serve those in need with compassion and impartiality. Feeding South Florida also undertakes an advocacy role for those in need by educating and engaging our community at large to fight hunger and poverty. For more information, please visit www.feedingsouthflorida.org.
About Chase
Chase is the U.S. consumer and commercial banking business of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), which operates more than 5,100 branches and 15,000 ATMs nationally under the Chase brand. Chase has 146 million credit cards issued and serves consumers and small businesses through bank branches, ATMs and mortgage offices as well as through relationships with auto dealerships and schools and universities. More information about Chase is available at www.chase.com.