Sam's Club Donates $4,000 to Mobile Food Pantry

From left to right: Christine Brown, Missy Rice and Brent Bohnert.

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Sam's Club Donates $4,000

To Southeast Missouri Food Bank's Mobile Food Pantry

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO- January 26, 2011- Sam's Club of Cape Girardeau donated $4,000 to support the Southeast Missouri Food Bank's Mobile Pantry Program. In addition to their donation, employees from Sam's Club and Wal-Mart will donate their time by volunteering at each Mobile Pantry. Southeast Missouri Food Bank will be able to provide 8 Mobile Food Pantries to local communities in our sixteen county service area.

Up to 2,800 families will receive assistance through this generous donation. "We decided to donate the money to the Mobile Food Pantry because there is a real need and food has become a luxury item for many families. We would like to help fill that need to smaller underserved communities and pantries," said Sam's Club Employee, Christine Brown.

Often, small, rural Southeast Missouri towns lack the resources to provide basic social services to families in need. Southeast Missouri Food Bank's Mobile Food Pantry fills this gap in emergency food assistance. Each distribution can serve up to 350 households, providing clients with a variety of different food items. Southeast Missouri Food Bank helps remove the barriers to food access and stigma associated with food insecurity by addressing the unique needs in the community educating the public about the often hidden face of food insecurity.

"With the Mobile Food Pantry we are able to go into rural communities and help so many more needy families," said Southeast Missouri Food Bank's Agency Relations & Programs Director, Missy Rice.

We partner with individuals, civic groups, and non-profit organizations in our sixteen county service area. Partners provide volunteers and a site for distribution, and they help spread the word about upcoming distributions.

If you would like to serve as a volunteer or would like to sponsor a mobile food pantry, please call Missy Rice, Agency Relations & Programs Director at the Food Bank at (573) 651-0400 or email her at merice@feedingamerica.org.

About Southeast Missouri Food Bank

Founded in 1985, in Sikeston, MO (formerly the Bootheel Food Bank), Southeast Missouri Food Bank provides food to charitable and disaster relief programs in Southeast Missouri. Southeast Missouri Food Bank is affiliated with Feeding America (formerly America's Second Harvest), the nation's food bank network. Over 150

nonprofit hunger relief agencies in sixteen counties of Southeast Missouri benefit from the Southeast Missouri Food Bank. These counties include Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Dunklin, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Perry, Reynolds, Ripley, Scott, Ste. Genevieve, Stoddard and Wayne. Member agencies include food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters for the abused and homeless, senior citizen programs, low-income children's programs and non-profit rehabilitation facilities. The mission of Southeast Missouri Food Bank is to promote food recovery; acquire and distribute food and household products; and provide community leadership and education on issues of hunger and poverty in an effort to alleviate hunger in the region. Those interested in helping can do so by making a tax-deductible contribution, donating food or scheduling a time to volunteer. Please call 573-651-0400 or email info@semofoodbank.org for more information.

About Feeding America

Feeding America provides low-income individuals and families with the fuel to survive and even thrive. As the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity, our network members supply food to more than 37 million Americans each year, including 14 million children and 3 million seniors. Serving the entire United States, more than 200 member food banks support 61,000 agencies that address hunger in all of its forms. For more information on how you can fight hunger in your community and across the country, visit us on Facebook at facebook.com/FeedingAmerica or follow our news on Twitter at twitter.com/FeedingAmerica.