SAN JOSE, CA – (November 10, 2014) – NBC Bay Area is once
again teaming up with Safeway Stores for a one-day food drive on Saturday, November 22, kicking off a month-long effort to fight hunger with Bay
Area Food Banks, a collaboration of seven food banks serving over 780,000 local
residents each month. The “Help Us End Hunger” food drive will take place at 155
Safeway locations throughout the Bay Area making it easy for community members
to participate and help feed their neighbors in need.
“Despite the
recovering economy, thousands of Bay Area residents still rely on their local
food banks to put food on their tables each week. Our goal is to create
awareness and provide our viewers an easy way to help out,” said Rich Cerussi,
NBC Bay Area President and General Manager. “We thank
the community for all of their support to make this drive so successful year
after year.”
“We thank NBC Bay
Area and Safeway for bringing attention to the severity of local hunger and for
creating a simple way for anyone in our community to help a family in need,”
said Kathy Jackson, Second Harvest Food Bank CEO. “Bay Area Food Banks are
feeding people in every neighborhood and through this drive you can donate to
make a difference in the lives of people where you live.”
For the last five
years, NBC Bay Area has partnered with Safeway to help stock the shelves of
local food banks. In addition to providing on air promotion, the station will
be enlisting hundreds of volunteers – including NBC Bay Area anchors and
reporters helping at their own neighborhood Safeway Stores – on Saturday,
November 22 to encourage shoppers to donate food items.
To make the donation
process easier, a specially produced shopping bag filled with items that food
banks need the most will be available for $10 at all local Safeway stores. Items
include pasta and sauce, canned vegetables and important protein items like
peanut butter and canned tuna. Once collected, the bags will be delivered to
food banks for distribution to needy families. The bags will be available for Safeway
shoppers to purchase now through December 25.
This year, NBC Bay
Area and Safeway are inviting local chefs to participate in a recipe challenge by
creating dishes using the food items provided in the donation bags. Recipe
challenges will take place at various Safeway locations and will be broadcast
live on NBC Bay Area.
“Safeway is proud to
be partnering with our area food banks on this community-wide collection
effort,” said Karl Schroeder, President of Safeway Northern California.
“Assisting people who need a helping hand during the holidays and throughout
the year is an important part of Safeway’s giving programs.”
Last year, the food
drive collected more than 134,000 bags at Safeway Stores across the Bay Area, amounting
to over 1,600,000 pounds of food for those in need.
ABOUT NBC BAY AREA
Owned by NBC
Universal, NBC Bay Area / KNTV is the Bay Area’s investigative station located
in the heart of Silicon Valley. The station is committed to providing
continuous, in-depth news and journalism with unique personalities. Along with
carrying NBC’s award-winning daytime, prime-time and late night programming,
NBC Bay Area produces more than 32 hours of news programming each week,
including several, weekly news franchises: The Interview with Raj Mathai, Class
Action with Jessica Aguirre and Reality Check with Sam Brock. COZI TV, the station’s
multicast network, offers a full schedule of America’s most beloved and iconic
television series and hit movies. COZI TV can be seen locally on Comcast 186,
Verizon 460, and over-the-air on 11.3.
ABOUT SAFEWAY INC.
Safeway Inc. is a
Fortune 100 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North
America based on sales. Safeway operates 1,331 stores in the United States and
had annual sales of $35.1 billion in 2013.
ABOUT BAY AREA FOOD
BANKS
Bay
Area Food Banks is a collaboration of seven local food banks serving northern
California counties. Collectively they serve 780,000 adults, seniors and
children each month through nearly 1,600 food pantries, children’s programs,
shelters, soup kitchens, residential programs, and other emergency food
providers. Learn more at www.bayareahunger.org.
###
MEDIA
CONTACTS
NBC Bay
Area – Liza Catalan
Safeway- Wendy
Gutshall
Alameda County Community Food Bank –
Michael Altfest
Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano – Lisa
Sherrill
Redwood Empire Food Bank (Sonoma County) – Lee Bickley
San Francisco Food Bank & Marin Food Bank – Blain Johnson
(415) 282-1900, ext. 270.
bjohnson@sfmfoodbank.org
Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties –
Caitlin Kerk
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