CHICAGO—The National Restaurant Association announced that exhibiting companies at its 2012 Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show—held May 5 to 8 at Chicago’s McCormick Place—have donated more than 41,710 meals to the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD).
“Donating surplus food from the National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show is a long-time tradition we are proud to uphold,” said Jack Crawford, convention chair for NRA Show 2012 and president and CEO of Ground Round Independent Owners Cooperative, LLC. “The generosity of our exhibiting companies this year is amazing, as the number of meals donated this year exceeded the number of meals donated last year by nearly 5,000.”
“We are so grateful to the National Restaurant Association and Show exhibitors for their donations to the Greater Chicago Food Depository,” said Kate Maehr, executive director and CEO of the Greater Chicago Food Depository. “These donations are especially important as we serve 77 percent more people than we did four years ago.”
Donations Equaled 42,000 Meals
NRA Show 2012 exhibitors donated a total of 55,614 pounds of high quality, nutritious food products, which provided nearly 42,000 meals benefiting men, women and children in need throughout the Chicago area.
The donated food was distributed through a network of more than 600 qualified GCFD member agencies, which include pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, day care centers and senior living facilities.
The Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago’s food bank, is a nonprofit food distribution and training center providing food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in the Chicago community. The Food Depository distributes donated and purchased food through a network of 650 pantries, soup kitchens and shelters to 678,000 adults and children in Cook County every year. Last year, the Food Depository distributed 58 million pounds of nonperishable food and fresh produce, dairy products and meat, the equivalent of 119,000 meals every day. The Food Depository’s programs and services for children, older adults and the unemployed and underemployed address the root causes of hunger.
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