In an effort to relieve childhood hunger in Oklahoma, Crest Foods raised $80,000 at the 29th Anniversary Crest Foods Golf Tournament for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma’s Food for Kids Programs. A semi-truck full of Tyson Chicken Breast, nearly 35,000 pounds, also was donated through the tournament.
“No child should have to worry about where their next meal will come from,” said Bruce Harroz, president of Crest Foods.
With the support from companies like Crest Foods, the Regional Food Bank is able to provide enough food to feed 136,000 Oklahomans each week, 37 percent of whom are children. A $100 donation will provide healthy, nutritious food for one child for an entire year through the Food for Kids Programs.
“Learning can’t begin until hunger ends,” said Katie Fitzgerald, CEO of the Regional Food Bank. “This generous donation from the Crest Foods golf tournament ensures that 800 children will have food over the weekends, school and holiday breaks and during the summer. Together, we’re feeding the future of Oklahoma.”
Since 2007, Crest Foods’ annual golf tournament has raised a total of $529,795 and 1,094,572 pounds of food to fight childhood hunger in Oklahoma.
One in four children in Oklahoma lives with hunger every day. Last school year, the Regional Food Bank provided more than 3 million meals to chronically hungry children through the Food for Kids Programs: Backpack Program, Kids Café, Summer Feeding and School Pantry Program.
Through the Backpack Program, elementary school students receive a backpack full of kid-friendly, non-perishable and nutritious food on Friday to sustain them over weekends and school holidays. During the most recent school year, 24,371 students in 500 schools participated in the Backpack Program. That’s 5,555 more chronically hungry elementary school children added to the program from the year before.
The School Pantry Program provides chronically hungry middle and high school students with food to sustain them after school and over weekends. Last school year, the School Pantry Program served 5,770 students at 167 schools.
The Kids Café, an afterschool program, provides food, mentoring, tutoring and a variety of other activities to an average of 3,000 children each month at 34 sites in central and western Oklahoma.
The Summer Feeding program provides meals to children 18 and under throughout the summer months when free and reduced price meals are not available at school. This past summer, more than 120 sites in central and western Oklahoma provided meals to 7,093 children who live with hunger.
The Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma is the state’s largest private, domestic hunger-relief organization and a member of Feeding America’s network of Food Banks. The nonprofit provides enough food to feed more than 136,000 hungry Oklahomans each week through a network of more than 1,300 schools and charitable feeding programs in 53 central and western Oklahoma counties. Since its inception in 1980, the Regional Food Bank has distributed more than 613 million pounds of food to feed Oklahoma’s hungry.
More Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma news:
Regional Food Bank Of Oklahoma Supports Hurricane Relief Efforts
Sprouts’ Grab ’N Give Food Drive Benefits Regional Food Bank Of Oklahoma
