‘Kraft Hunger Challenge’ exceeds its fund-raising goal by $150,000
Toronto, ON - November 4, 2005 - Canadians certainly rose to the challenge of this year’s Kraft Hunger Challenge, a matching donations program that raises money for food banks. In September, the Canadian Association of Food Banks (CAFB) and Kraft Canada called on Canadians across the country to help raise more than $300,000 for food banks. Between September 6 and October 7, Canadians made donations online, by phone, mail and in person and Kraft matched donations dollar for dollar up to a maximum of $150,000 in total. This year’s Kraft Hunger Challenge resulted in more than $450,000, which will be used to purchase food for hungry Canadians.
The $450,000 will be shared among Canadian communities in need through the CAFB and their provincial partners to help feed the hungry across the country. The campaign took place in 10 centres through Canada: Surrey, Edmonton, Regina/Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Toronto/Ontario, Montreal, Halifax, and St. John’s.
"Last year’s program raised more than $320,000 and this year we’ve far exceeded that amount, thanks to the generousity of Canadians across the country," says Charles Seiden, Executive Director, Canadian Association of Food Banks. "Hunger is always top-of-mind for us, and the Kraft Hunger Challenge is just one way that we’re working to address it throughout the year."
"We want to thank all the Food Banks across the country that helped with this year’s challenge, as well as the thousands of Canadians that joined us in this effort to surpass our goal and raise more than $450,000 to help fight hunger," says Fred Schaeffer, President, Kraft Canada Inc.
Kraft Canada has a long-standing partnership with the Canadian Association of Food Banks to lead the fight against hunger in Canada. Kraft Canada donates an average of 2.5 million pounds of food to the CAFB each year to help feed hungry families. Kraft Canada also contributes to the CAFB through the funding of programs designed to raise awareness of the hunger issue in Canada. Kraft Canada Inc., with corporate headquarters located in Toronto, Ontario, is the largest packaged food and beverage manufacturer and distributor in the country.
The Canadian Association of Food Banks (CAFB) is the umbrella organization representing food banks in Canada. The only organization of its kind, through its 250 members, it serves over 2,600 member agencies, which reach 90% of people using emergency food programs in Canada. In March of 2004, over 840,000 different people accessed food banks, including over 300,000 children. Members are primarily community-run organizations that rely on volunteers to distribute food. In 2004, the CAFB moved over 9 million pounds of food industry donations to its members through the National Food Sharing System (NFSS), the dollar value equivalent of $18 million. In addition to food received from the Canadian Association of Food Banks, food bank members distribute an estimated 150 million pounds of food per year to the less fortunate in their communities. For every dollar raised, the CAFB can move $75 worth of food.
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Contact:
Charles Seiden
Canadian Association of Food Banks
Tel: 416.203.9241
Email: charles@cafb-acba.ca
Don Blair
Kraft Canada
Tel: 416.441.5610
Email: don.blair@kraft.com