Second Harvest Food Bank: Expands to provide more healthy and nutritious food

CONTACT:Kris Tazelaar, Communications Manager, Second Harvest Foodbank, 608-216-7206, krist@shfbmadison.org

MADISON, Wisc. (02/10/2017) – Officials from Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin and American Family Insurance announced today the successful completion of the first phase of Second Harvest’s Food. Health. Hope. Campaign. This phase of the campaign included raising $2 million to pay for an expansion of its facility on Madison’s eastside, and completing the primary construction of the new expansion. As a result, Second Harvest is now able to:

·Store and distribute significantly more healthy and nutritious fresh and frozen food

·Process more food faster to decrease turnaround time

·Handle incoming and outgoing food more safely and efficiently through traffic flow reconfiguration and more shipping/receiving bays

“For many years Second Harvest has placed an emphasis on providing nutritious food to our neighbors in southwestern Wisconsin who are struggling to put food on their tables,” said Dan Stein, president & CEO of Second Harvest. “We knew we needed to make significant changes to our building to give us the ability to provide more fresh and frozen product. Thanks to many generous donors like American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation, Inc., we can now take advantage of opportunities we would have had to turn down previously because of space limitations.”

The first phase of the Food. Health. Hope. Campaign was privately funded by numerous organizations, foundations, and individuals, including a lead gift of $500,000 by American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation.

“We’re delighted to partner with Second Harvest Food Bank as it continues its work to end hunger in our Wisconsin communities, and to do so by providing more healthy, nutritious food to families in need,” said Bill Westrate, American Family Insurance chief operating officer and Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin board member. “We support the efforts of organizations like Second Harvest that provide vital services and support in the communities where we live, work and do business.”

The construction included adding freezer and cooler space, adding new shipping and receiving bays, increasing volunteer space used to process food, and relocating some office staff to a new facility. With the new addition and other reconfigurations, Second Harvest was able to increase their total capacity by 35% to approximately 1.7 million pounds of food.

In addition to celebrating the end of phase one of the project, Second Harvest is now hoping to raise $200,000 from the public to help keep the new space filled year-round. For every $1 raised they can provide three meals. To donate, visit SecondHarvestMadison.org/FHH.

About Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin
Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin began working with local hunger-relief agencies in 1986. It helps end hunger in 16 southwestern Wisconsin counties through food distribution to its partner agencies, promotion of outside food assistance programs like FoodShare, and raising awareness of hunger. As southwestern Wisconsin’s largest hunger-relief charity it meets nearly one million requests for help each year. From July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016 Second Harvest, together with its partner agencies and programs, provided 13.7 million meals. It is one of 200 members of Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity. For more information, visit SecondHarvestMadison.org.

About American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation, Inc.
This foundation builds on our already strong commitment and support for the communities we serve. With this foundation, our community giving has evolved into community investing – strategically aligning corporate goals with community investments and creating alliances with non-profits for mutual benefit. Community investing now aligns with the company’s mission/brand, where impact can be made, and meaningful results achieved. The American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation is intended as an effective and efficient funding mechanism for the company’s community investment and philanthropic strategy. It strengthens our ability to measure the results and impact of our investments for the greatest benefit.