Wayne Wallingford Sponsors a Mobile Food Pantry

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Southeast Missouri Legislator

Wayne Wallingford

Sponsors Mobile Food Pantry

CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO- January 31, 2011- Southeast Missouri members of the General Assembly recently came together to fight hunger by donating to the Southeast Missouri Food Bank acting on a challenge from Senator Jason Crowell. Wayne Wallingford, Representative for Cape Girardeau, donated $600 to sponsor a Mobile Food Pantry. The Mobile Food Pantry was held on January 22, 2011 and helped 105 local families.

The Southeast Missouri Food Bank's Mobile Food Pantry Pogram fills the gap in emergency food assistance, mostly in small, rural communities that lack the resources to provide for families in need. We partner with individuals, civic groups and non-profit organizations in our 16 county service area. These partners provide volunteers and a site for distribution, and they help spread the word about upcoming distributions. Each distribution can serve up to 350 households, providing clients with a variety of different food items. Distributions typically run 2-4 hours and consist of up to 8,000 pounds of product delivered in a beverage truck with roll-up bay doors.

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.