At a time when more and more families in Central Florida face the threat of going hungry, Second Harvest announced today that Chase will donate two state-of-the-art refrigerated delivery trucks to supply Central Florida’s community with access to fruits, vegetables and other fresh foods. Chase also generously donated funds to operate each of these trucks for the first year.
Each week, the trucks will be used to collect and distribute food to over 50,000 people in need throughout Second Harvest’s six-county service area: Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia.
“Last year, Second Harvest distributed more than 26 million pounds of product and we won’t slow down next year. We can’t,” said Dave Krepcho, president and CEO of Second Harvest. “Extra vehicles in our fleet will boost our efforts significantly and help us reach more of our neighbors in need. We are deeply grateful to Chase for this generous donation.”
The effects of the recession and unemployment rates continue to have a dramatic impact on Second Harvest and agencies that help people around Central Florida. Today, the food bank struggles to meet the surging needs of clients. In Central Florida alone, more than 731,900 people – 47 percent of which are of children – receive emergency food each year in the Second Harvest’s service area. Since 2006, soup kitchens and shelters have seen a 100 to 400 percent increase in need for 50 or more additional meals per week. With the assistance of the two donated refrigerated trucks, the food bank will distribute large volumes of nutritional product to local food pantries, soup kitchens or other agencies, which serve more than 55,000 Central Floridians each week.
“We at JPMorgan Chase strive to give back to the local, underserved communities we serve in Florida, particularly when our efforts can enhance their quality of life,” said Mike Dosal, Central Florida Market Commercial Banking President. “These refrigerated trucks better equip Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida to deliver nutritious food to our local Orlando community, and we could not be more proud to be part of this hunger relief initiative.” In Central Florida, the Bank has over 100 branches with plans of adding 200 more in the next three years.
Chase announced its donation in Central Florida as part of a $5 million national grant to Feeding America and its nationwide network of food banks. This donation marks the largest single corporate donation that Feeding America has received from a corporation to date. Second Harvest is a member of the Feeding America network.
The national donation will support hunger-fighting initiatives, supplying 34 trucks to 20 food banks in communities hit hard by the recession. The trucks’ destinations include Feeding America network food banks in 19 cities and local communities nationwide. With the new trucks, food banks can transport up to 1.5 million pounds of food — the equivalent of 1,171,185 additional meals — annually.
JPMorgan Chase has given nearly $9 million to help food bank and hunger related programs over the past 10 years, not including the recent donation to Feeding America. Chase’s donation to Feeding America will cover the costs of purchasing and operating food delivery trucks in the following communities:
Atlanta Dallas Detroit Denver Ft. Worth Houston Indianapolis Jacksonville Los Angeles Mesa Miami Milwaukee New Orleans Newark Orlando Phoenix Seattle Tampa Wilmington
To learn more about hunger in Central Florida and how you can help please visit: www.foodbankcentralflorida.org.
