Contact:
Kris Tazelaar
(608) 216-7206
krist@shfbmadison.org
MADISON, Wis., March 21, 2017 – Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin announced today it has received a generous $15,000 contribution from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield to help support its Mobile Pantry Program. The gift will support mobile pantries in Columbia, Dane, Grant and Sauk counties, six of which are held in partnership with Catholic Charities. The mobile pantries in these counties provide an average of 4,355 people with about a weeks worth of groceries each month. In total, the gift will provide nearly 119,000 pounds of food to people struggling with hunger.
In addition to providing the gift to support the Mobile Pantry Program, representatives will also attend the mobile pantries they are supporting over the next few months to volunteer during the food distribution, and provide reusable grocery bags to the guests receiving food.
“Second Harvest Foodbank is grateful for Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield’s support of the Mobile Program,” says Dan Stein, President/CEO for Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin. “Because residents of the community who are facing hunger rely on the food they receive from the Mobile Pantry Program, gifts from supporters like Anthem BCBS really have a positive impact in the community.”
Through the Mobile Pantry Program, in partnership with a member agency, groceries from Second Harvest Foodbank’s warehouse are trucked to a site at a prescheduled time for immediate distribution to residents. The program provides another source of food to families and individuals facing hunger. It also gives Second Harvest a valuable channel to increase food distribution so nutritious, non-perishable foods as well as perishable foods, such as milk, juice, bread and fresh produce, do not go to waste. The Mobile Pantry Program accounts for one-third of all food distributed by Second Harvest in a year.
