FirstFruits Marketing of Washington finished its seventh annual Take a Bite Out of Hunger™ program at select retailers with a collective donation of 225,920 pounds of apples to local food banks. This brings the total program donation to approximately 1,825,000 pounds over seven seasons.
FirstFruits created Take a Bite Out of Hunger™ with the goal of helping feed the underserved while bringing attention to the problem of food insecurity in the United States. In its seventh year, FirstFruits continues to partner with retailers and wholesalers to make fresh apple donations. Donations are made in a retailer’s name to local food banks with the retailer contributing the cost of freight. This year’s participating retailers and wholesalers included AG New England, Charlie’s Produce, Dave’s Marketplace, Frazier Farms Market, Good Food Stores, Market of Choice, Metropolitan Market, OK Produce, Roundy’s, Sobey’s, Stater Brothers, Super 1 Foods and United Supermarkets.
From left to right: Lenny Miner and Jim O’Brien with Associated Grocers of New England and
Eileen Liponis of the New Hampshire Food Bank
“The Take a Bite Out of Hunger program continues to grow every year thanks to the continued support and dedication from our partners,” said Chuck Zeutenhorst, General Manager of FirstFruits. “Their participation is not just about the donation, but also about engaging and educating consumers about the issues surrounding hunger.”
Hunger isn’t just about being hungry. It’s about food insecurity, or not having regular access to safe, affordable and nutritious foods. As of 2015, nearly 13 percent of all U.S. households were food-insecure according to the USDA. Of those, households with children reported food insecurity at a higher rate than those without children: 17 percent compared to 11 percent.
For more information:
First Fruits Marketing
East Coast Regional Marketer
Dennis Jackson
or
West Coast Regional Marketer
Tim Corkill