Employee-driven program fosters local impact
throughout Hunger Action Month
CHICAGO, Sept. 15,
2023 /PRNewswire/ -- In support of Hunger Action
Month and its commitment to combating food insecurity, the Conagra
Brands Foundation has announced the 2023 recipients of the "Nourish
Our Community" grants. Through these grants, 20 nonprofits across
10 states are awarded funding, totaling $350,000. The grants will help to create positive
social impact in the communities where its employees live and
work.
Each September, the Nourish Our Community grants are distributed
to employee-nominated nonprofit organizations that address the
issue of domestic hunger and food insecurity, cooking skills,
nutrition education, healthy and active lifestyle and/or urban
agriculture. In addition to the initial nominations, Conagra
employees play an integral role in the review, analysis, discussion
and selection process, with the final slate of grant recipients
being determined by a cross-functional committee of employees.
"For over a quarter of a century, the Nourish our Community
grant program has encouraged and empowered our employees to take a
stand against hunger and food insecurity within their local
communities," said Robert Rizzo,
Senior Director, Conagra Brands Foundation. "These nonprofits do
important work that has a meaningful impact on the lives of
children, teens, adults and seniors in our community. Through these
partnerships, we are not only raising awareness, but providing
essential funding to support vital direct services reaching many
Americans that are impacted by food insecurity."
Hunger Action Month, a Feeding America initiative, aims to raise
awareness for and take action on the issue of food insecurity in
the United States. Conagra Brands
Foundation's longstanding partnership with Feeding America includes
a unique combination of efforts that involve employee volunteerism,
product donations and cash contributions. Conagra's philanthropic
efforts support national research that increases the collective
understanding of the issue of hunger and its impact on vulnerable
populations and diverse communities; direct service that improve
access to nutritious and culturally relevant food through capacity
building efforts that increase front line hunger relief agencies
efforts to better serve the community and, national efforts to
advance equity, diversity and inclusions efforts. Conagra also
provides significant product donations that are distributed to
Feeding America's network of 200 food banks.
More information about each of the "Nourish Our Community" grant
recipients can be found below:
AREA NEIGHBORHOOD SERVICE CENTER (MN)
Project:
Balanced Food Supply to Help More Families
Funds provided by the Conagra Brands Foundation support the
Waseca Area Neighborhood Service
Center's effort to replenish its pantry with nourishing food
choices and fill its freezer with protein. This assortment of food
is vital to meet the dietary needs of individuals or families who
visit the organization when they need it most. This initiative
ensures that those facing food insecurity will readily have access
to nutritious food options.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Thalia S. – Waseca, MN
BACK PACK BLESSINGS (GA)
Project: Weekend Food
Back Packs
Back Pack Blessings fills backpacks with a variety of
nonperishable, child-friendly foods. These backpacks are
distributed to elementary students, so they have something to take
home over the weekends when their food access might be limited. The
Conagra Brand Foundation funding helps keep costs low while
ensuring the availability of 600 backpacks filled with food for the
students who attend Fair Oaks Elementary School.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Stacy R. – Atlanta, GA
BIG MUDDY URBAN FARM (NE)
Project: Impact
Expansion
The Conagra Brands Foundation's grant supports the growth of the
Aspiring Farmer Residency program, which tackles food insecurity by
training community members to become leaders in local food systems
and urban farming. With this funding, the organization can welcome
two additional Aspiring Farmers into the program and amplify its
impact, contributing to the distribution of at least two additional
tons of fresh, locally grown produce to be distributed to the
community through local markets and free food distributions.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Molly N. – Omaha, NE
BLESSINGS IN A BACKPACK (KY)
Project: Weekend
Backpack distribution in Southeast
Michigan
Blessings in a Backpack provides school-age children with backpacks
containing enough food to alleviate hunger through the weekend.
This grant will serve children residing in Macomb, MI. Beyond providing meals, the
program eliminates the barriers to learning that stem from
inadequate food access, enabling students to take advantage of
educational opportunities. Through this initiative, schools have
observed improvements in students' test scores, attention spans,
attendance rates, and behavior.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Krystal K. – Macomb, MI
BRIDGE TO HOPE (WI)
Project: Hope for the
Hungry
For nearly 40 years, Bridge to Hope has been offering shelter and
assistance to individuals impacted by domestic violence, sexual
assault, and human trafficking. Bridge to Hope will utilize Conagra
Brands Foundation funds to increase the variety of foods in its
pantry by 50 percent. Furthermore, the funding will be used to
provide "family-style" meals on a weekly basis to provide residents
of the shelter access to well-balanced meals and opportunities to
learn about healthy meal preparation.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Sara B. – Menomonie, WI
CHARITY BLOOMS (IL)
Project: Enhance Outdoor
Cooking Classes
The Conagra Brands Foundation grant supports improvements to expand
the capacity of the outdoor kitchen classroom and will enhance
educational programming to serve additional students. The outdoor
cooking classroom improvements will allow them to double the number
of students they can accommodate in the education programs. The
nonprofit will also engage with professionally trained chefs to
enhance the educational content to improve the quality of the
learning experience.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Brenda J-L. – Chicago, IL
COMPLETELY KIDS (NE)
Project: Weekend Food
Program
Completely KIDS is committed to empowering and educating children
and families. The allocated funds will help purchase healthy food
items for take-home food bags, a component of the Weekend Food
Program. The Weekend Food Program is designed to ensure that every
child participating in its afterschool program has access to
nutritious food to sustain them over the weekend when a meal is not
guaranteed. This program provides over 800 take-home bags of food
per week.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Brittany R. –
Omaha, NE
EVERY SOUL MATTERS MINISTRIES (AR)
Project:
Continuing Hunger Relief While Providing Healthy Eating
The Nourish Our Community grant will support the expansion of Every
Soul Matter's food pantry, monthly community meals, and
door-to-door grocery distribution. Additionally, the funding will
support its mobile kitchen, which will be utilized to prepare and
distribute meals throughout Northwest
Arkansas.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Rebecca G. – Fayetteville, AR
FEEDING OUR COMMUNITIES PARTNERS (MN)
Project:
Youth Hunger Relief
Feeding Our Communities Partners serves students in grades K-12 who
live in food-insecure households, offering them child-friendly and
nutritious food to be consumed throughout the weekend, during
school breaks, and during summer months. The funding will purchase
food that adheres to USDA nutrition guidelines and has been fully
vetted by nutrition experts and specialists. This program serves
over 1,300 students across six school districts in the greater
Mankato Area each week.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Brittany R. – Mankato, MN
GIRLS INC. OF WASHINGTON
COUNTY (MD)
Project: Kids Café
Girls Inc. is dedicated to serving young women within the community
through impactful programs that offer them access to healthy and
nutritious meals and snacks, promoting the adoption of positive,
long-term eating habits. This grant supports its Kids Café, which
provides daily snacks, breakfast, and lunch. The girls in the
program are involved in planning the menu, budgeting, and
incorporating produce they grew from the organization's garden into
the meals.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Susan H. – Hagerstown, MD
GROW JACKSON (MI)
Project: Community Garden
Grow Jackson's Community Garden project aims to educate senior
citizens and young people by promoting changes in behavior toward
appreciating the importance of fresh food. The Conagra Brands
Foundation's support enhances the production capability of their
garden network, thereby increasing access to fresh food and
vegetables.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Matt S. – Archbold, OH
JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS NEBRASKA (NE)
Project:
Nourishing our New Neighbors Project
Justice for our Neighbors Nebraska, dba Immigrant Legal Center +
Refugee Empowerment Center is Nebraska's largest nonprofit immigration legal
services provider and one of three federally recognized
resettlement agencies in Nebraska.
Funding from Conagra will support the first week of food for
clients served by the organization. This will ensure clients' new
homes are fully stocked with food and ready for the family's
arrival. Immigrant Legal Center + Refugee Empowerment Center
estimates a total of 400 clients will be served through this
project.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Julie P. – Council Bluffs, IA
NO MORE EMPTY POTS (NE)
Project: Community
Harvest
No More Empty Pots is committed to connecting individuals and
groups to improve self-sufficiency, food security, and economic
resilience of urban and rural communities through advocacy and
action. Funding from the Conagra Brands Foundation will benefit the
Community Harvest Program, a multi-faceted strategy to connect
people with locally sourced, fresh, affordable food, and teach them
to use primarily plant-based ingredients to prepare nutritious
meals.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Lanesa B-H. – Omaha, NE
NORTHERN ILLINOIS HELPING
HANDS FOOD PANTRY (IL)
Project: Food Pantry Logistics
Northern Illinois Helping Hands Food Pantry's mission is to provide
nutritious food and resources for neighbors with dignity, equity,
and convenience. This grant will help the food pantry purchase a
new cargo van, which will be used in facilitating food donation
pickups and their weekly meal delivery service benefiting seniors
and homebound clients.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Evan T. – Chicago, IL
SAVING GRACE PERISHABLE FOOD RESCUE
(NE)
Project: Nourishing People, Nurturing the
Planet
Saving Grace's goal is to connect perishable food from local food
purveyors to local nonprofits that feed the community, while
simultaneously raising awareness and educating the community about
food waste and hunger. Grant funding will support its Nourishing
People, Nurturing the Planet initiative, in which drivers pick up
excess food from grocery stores, caterers, event venues, and
restaurants and deliver same day to hunger relief agencies. This
grant will help expand operations into Council Bluffs, IA.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Stephanie N. –
Omaha, NE
STANDUP FOR KIDS (GA)
Project: Homeless Youth
Food Assistance in Orange County,
CA
StandUp for Kids (SUFK) is a national nonprofit dedicated to ending
the cycle of youth homelessness in local communities across the
country. Funding will support efforts in Orange County, CA and will aid in the
purchasing of food and water for the SUFK OC Food Pantry. The SUFK
OC Food Pantry supplies water, nutritious groceries, meals, snacks,
and fast-food gift cards to youth who are between 12-24 years
old.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Kelly B. – Irvine, CA
STEPPING STONES OF DUNN
COUNTY (WI)
Project: Food Pantry Operations
Stepping Stones of Dunn County
aims to strengthen the Dunn County
community by providing food, shelter, and support to neighbors in
need. This grant from the Conagra Brands Foundation will support
the Stepping Stones Food Pantry. The pantry is open five days a
week, and distributes frozen food, bread, dairy, and meat to
neighbors. Funds will be used to purchase food for distribution to
neighbors in Dunn County, WI.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Jeff S. – Menomonie, WI
THE TEEN CENTER (NE)
Project: A Brighter Future
of Food Access
The Teen Center in Omaha has a
mission of promoting opportunities for students through intentional
afterschool programming that provides education, exposure, and
mentorship. The Nourish Our Community grant will fund a student-led
after-school snack program, including educating teens on nutritious
snacks and ingredients. Funds will also benefit the Teen Center's
food pantry, providing students with food to fuel them as they
successfully complete their educational requirements.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Kristi R. – Omaha, NE
YOU FEED THEM MISSIONAL FOOD PANTRY
(IN)
Project: Food Pantry Initiatives
You Feed Them Missional Food Pantry is committed to providing food
to anyone facing hunger. Funding from the Conagra Brands Foundation
will help facilitate their food distribution program. Over the last
year, You Feed Them has distributed bags of groceries and
toiletries to people in need in the Indianapolis area. Funds will be used to
purchase food for distribution to the community.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Craig A. – Indianapolis, IN
YOUTH EMERGENCY SERVICES (NE)
Project: Street
Outreach Pantry
Youth Emergency Services (YES) assists unstably housed youth by
providing critically needed resources that support their desire to
be self-sufficient. This grant will support its Street Outreach
Program and its work to provide hot meals and pantry bags for youth
and young adults who are experiencing homelessness. With the
support of the Conagra Brands Foundation, YES will expand food
access for youth and young adults across Omaha.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Holly A. – Omaha, NE
About Conagra Brands
Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), headquartered in Chicago, is
one of North America's leading branded food companies.
Guided by an entrepreneurial spirit, Conagra Brands combines a rich
heritage of making great food with a sharpened focus on innovation.
The company's portfolio is evolving to satisfy people's changing
food preferences. Conagra's iconic brands, such as Birds
Eye®, Duncan
Hines®, Healthy Choice®, Marie
Callender's®, Reddi-wip®, and Slim
Jim®, as well as emerging brands, including
Angie's® BOOMCHICKAPOP®, Duke's®,
Earth Balance®, Gardein®, and
Frontera®, offer choices for every occasion. For more
information, visit www.conagrabrands.com.
About Conagra Brands Foundation
Conagra Brands Foundation believes everyone has a right to healthy
and nutritious food knowing that food insecurity exists in every
U.S. county. The Foundation partners with exceptional national and
local nonprofits with high-impact programs located in the
communities where we live and work. By focusing our efforts within
five areas: Direct Food Access, Cooking Skills, Nutrition
Education, Healthy and Active Lifestyles and Urban Agriculture, we
are able to be a leader in the fight against food insecurity
in North America.
For all media inquiries, please
contact:
media@conagra.com
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