Local food banks across the country will be restocking empty shelves thanks to"Bag Hunger" – a national project of Partners in Time, the award-winning Macy's, Inc. employee volunteer program.
All Macy's, Inc. stores and business support locations contributed to its 13th annual national food campaign which ended last month. Macy's and Bloomingdale's employees nationwide organized collections in an effort to"Bag Hunger" for children and their families – resulting in 211,978 pounds of food, $2.3 million in monetary donations and 27,796 hours of community service.
Total food and monetary contributions will provide an equivalent 7.1 million meals for local charities. Bag Hunger benefits many affiliates of Feeding America, the largest domestic hunger-relief charity in the United States. The attached list details the contribution impact by regional area. Since Bag Hunger began in 1998, volunteers have collected food, equivalent donations and service time to provide 48 million meals.
Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of Feeding America said,"The need for emergency food continues to rise at our food banks across the country. We continue to face record demand for help as more than five million people each week seek help at one of the food pantries or soup kitchens we help serve. We owe a tremendous depth of gratitude to Macy's, Inc. associates, as well as Macy's and Bloomingdale's for their ongoing commitment and efforts to fight hunger; we believe this is the largest employee-based food drive in the U.S."
The company's financial executives take on the additional roles of"Chief Food Officers" for this high-energy project and the Macy's Foundation supports the cause with $10,000 toward hunger-relief charities.
"Our company has an ongoing commitment to community involvement, giving both time and contributions," said Karen Hoguet, chief financial officer of Macy's, Inc."Bag Hunger is the largest, and one of the favorite, national projects that our volunteers develop each year. In addition to providing food, employees also share their time to make a difference, helping to pack, sort and distribute food. Our volunteers make a huge impact in the community and we are happy to support those organizations that do so much good locally and nationally."
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Economic Research Service reported staggering increases in domestic food insecurity. Some 49 million American currently are struggling with hunger, including nearly 17 million children. This is an increase of 36 percent over the year before.
Bag Hunger volunteerism was a special focus this year, with Macy's and Bloomingdale's associates giving 27,796 hours of time, valued by our charities at nearly $560,000. In addition to Bag Hunger, the company's Partners in Time employee volunteers develop scores of projects each year nationwide. Participants have given more than 1.8 million hours of community service – valued at $30 million – since the program was founded 21 years ago.
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About Feeding America
Feeding America® is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of more than 200 food banks, 21 statewide food bank associations, and over 60,000 partner agencies, food pantries and meal programs, we helped provide 5.3 billion meals to tens of millions of people in need last year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; brings attention to the social and systemic barriers that contribute to food insecurity in our nation; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
Macy's Inc.
Macy's, Inc., with corporate offices in Cincinnati and New York, is one of the nation's premier retailers, with fiscal 2009 sales of $23.5 billion. The company operates about 850 department stores in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names of Macy's and Bloomingdale's. The company also operates macys.com and bloomingdales.com. Prior to June 1, 2007, Macy's, Inc. was known as Federated Department Stores, Inc.