Food Bank of Iowa Works to Advance Fight Against Rural Child

 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Food Bank of Iowa Works to Advance Fight Against Rural Child Hunger with Grant from C&S Wholesale Grocers Hunger-­‐Relief Organization Joins 19 member Food Banks and Feeding America® to Collaborate on the First-­‐Ever Rural Child Hunger Capacity Building Institute Des Moines, IA – March 17, 2015 – The Food Bank of Iowa today announced they have been selected to be one of 20 Feeding America member food banks to join the Rural Child Hunger Capacity Building Institute sponsored by C&S Wholesale Grocers. This is the first institute ever created to focus the entirety of its programming on finding solutions to better serve children struggling with food insecurity in rural areas of the country. The Food Bank of Iowa provides food to 55 counties in Iowa, 49 of which are considered to be rural. Sparse housing availability and distance often present additional obstacles to overcome when reaching families and children struggling with hunger. The organization will partake in a year-­‐long effort to develop a framework and tactical strategy to implement across Feeding America’s entire network of 200 food banks and more than 60,000 feeding programs, in which the Food Bank of Iowa is a member. “It is such a privilege to be selected as one of the recipients of the first-­‐ever Rural Child Hunger Capacity Building Institute grants thanks to C&S Wholesale Grocers,” said Kate Pauly, child & youth program coordinator for the Food Bank of Iowa. “Rural hunger affects 89 percent of the clients we serve and we are excited to work with other members of the Feeding America network to find innovative solutions so that no child in Iowa goes hungry, no matter where they live.” Currently the Food Bank of Iowa serves 4,800 school children per week through the BackPack Program™ (47 percent of those schools being outside Polk County), has piloted eight School Pantries and will sponsor several Summer Feeding sites this year. Child hunger is an important initiative for the Food Bank of Iowa especially in rural areas where child food insecurity is a significant problem. Nearly half the rural counties in the Food Bank of Iowa’s service area have a child food insecurity rate above 20 percent. According to the 2104 Hunger in America Study, 38 percent of Food Bank of Iowa clients are under the age of 18. Gina Goff, senior director of community involvement at C&S said, “we are excited to help enable further discovery about an issue that can affect many of the areas we serve. The location of families struggling with hunger should not impact their ability to find adequate support, we hope this Rural Child Hunger Capacity Building Institute will help local food banks better reach their rural clients.” The Institute will launch at Feeding America network member Food Bank for the Heartland in Omaha, Nebraska from March 16 -­‐ 18, 2015. For more information about the Food Bank of Iowa’s rural hunger relief efforts and the Rural Child Hunger Capacity Building Institute please visit www.foodbankiowa.org About the Food Bank of Iowa The Food Bank of Iowa is a private, not-­‐for-­‐profit organization committed to its mission of alleviating hunger through food distribution, partnership and education. The Food Bank of Iowa solicits, receives, inventories and distributes donated food and grocery products to more than 390 partner agencies in 55 counties who directly serve needy individuals within their communities as well as direct service programs: BackPack Program™, School Pantry, Mobile Pantry, Fresh Produce and Help Us Stop Hunger (HUSH). In FY 2014, the Food Bank of Iowa distributed 10,921,355 lbs. of food. To learn more, visit www.foodbankiowa.org or find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/foodbankiowa. About C&S Wholesale Grocers C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., based in Keene, NH, is the largest wholesale grocery supply company in the U.S. and the industry leader in supply chain innovation. Founded in 1918 as a supplier to independent grocery stores, C&S now services customers of all sizes, supplying more than 6,000 independent supermarkets, chain stores, military bases, and institutions with over 150,000 different products. C&S community involvement programs support initiatives to fight hunger and to promote the health and enrichment of communities that are homes to the company's employees and facilities. To learn more: http://community.cswg.com. Media Contact: Christina Zink Food Bank of Iowa czink@foodbankiowa.org Gina Goff C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc. GGOFF@cswg.com