• Award is a joint charitable initiative of the Albertson’s Foundation and the Entertainment Industry Foundation to provide school breakfast meals.

ROSEVILLE, CA — The Placer Food Bank is excited to have receive a  $23,335.88 grant from Hunger Is, a joint charitable initiative of the Albertsons Companies Foundation and the Entertainment Industry Foundation, to fight hunger in our community.  The generous grant will be used to provide breakfast meals in Placer Food Bank’s School Back Pack program at three area schools.

“This gift will go a long way in the battle against childhood hunger,†said Placer Food Bank Executive Director Dave Martinez. “We’re fortunate to have supporters like the Albertso
n’s Foundation and the Entertainment Industry Foundation who take an active role in this very important cause. Every child should have a healthy breakfast each and every day.â€

Nearly 14,400 ( 1 in 5) children in Placer, El Dorado and Nevada counties live in food insecure households, meaning they do not know with certainty where their next meal will come from.

Most of these children rely on the meals provided by national school meal programs as their primary source of food. While many of us look forward to the weekend with anticipation, these children regard the weekend with anxiety and apprehension. What will they eat over the weekend?

The Back Pack Program was created to provide these children with nutritious, easy-to-prepare food for weekends and holidays when school is not in session. We assemble and distribute 935 packages of child-friendly snacks and meals each week to several high-need schools in the Roseville City, Western Placer and Auburn School Districts. The packages are distributed to the students on Friday afternoons, who then tuck them into their backpacks before they head home for the weekend.

The three schools that will be included in the distribution of this added program will be First Street, Woodbridge and Rock Creek Elementary

The $23,335.88 Hunger Is grant is one of many that will be awarded from funds collected through an annual month-long fundraiser at more than 2,300 Albertsons Companies’ Albertsons, Safeway,
Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, ACME Markets, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Pavilions, Star Market,Carrs and other stores. Since its 2014 inception, Hunger Is has raised more than $20 million to support hunger relief programs throughout the country.

This year’s Hunger Is “Hungry for More†campaign highlighted the importance of daily breakfast for children. With the money raised, Hunger Is will meet its goal of providing five million breakfasts this year to children in need.

About Placer Food Bank

Placer Food Bank is the leader hunger relief charity in Placer, El Dorado and Nevada counties.  The organization serves as the primary food collection and distribution center for hunger relie
f efforts in the area distributing fresh and non-perishable food to the hungry through a network of local charitable organizations located within the three nearby counties. Placer Food Bank is the only local hunger relief organization, and just one of 210 food banks nationwide, to be a certified member of Feeding American, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity. Placer Food Bank is also a proud member of the California Association of Food Banks.

While Placer Food Bank has distribution sites in numerous areas, the organization is headquartered at 8284 Industrial Avenue in Roseville, 95678 and can be reached at (916) 783-0481 or online at www.placerfoodbank.org where you can learn more about hunger statistics in our area through their various resources and those provided through Feeding America.