Ford Motor Company Fund and Northwest Ford Dealers launch 2018 peanut butter drive as New England dealers join expanded Ford Focus on Child Hunger
The Ford Peanut Butter Drive is aimed at stocking food banks to keep more kids nourished during summer months when school lunch programs shut down
Ford Peanut Butter Drive is an important part of Ford Fund’s year round efforts to support hunger relief and provide access to essential needs that raise the quality of life for people
Dearborn, Mich., May 4, 2018 – Ford Motor Company Fund is working to strengthen communities and make people’s lives better, and a key ingredient in that mission is expanding access to a basic human need – food. As Ford Fund and Northwest Ford Dealers team up once again for the fifth annual Ford Peanut Butter Drive, they are being joined by New England Ford dealers and food banks to help feed more children over the summer.
The Ford Peanut Butter Drive began as a five-state campaign in the Pacific Northwest to help food banks meet the increased demand for nutritious, kid-friendly meals during the summer months when school meal programs are unavailable. The 2018 Ford Peanut Butter Drive is being launched on May 5 at Safeco Field during the Seattle Mariners game. Peanut butter will be collected from fans at stadium entrance gates. People can also bring peanut butter donations to their local Ford dealers or contribute online at Ford feeds kids. Since 2014, the Ford Peanut Butter Drive has collected more than 180,000 pounds of peanut butter. That’s enough for more than 2.5 million high-protein sandwiches that children enjoy.
“Hungry kids have a more difficult time learning and reaching their full potential,” said Jim Vella, president, Ford Motor Company Fund. “We’re proud to support this genuine community effort as part of our extensive hunger relief work and overall mission to improve the quality of life for people.”
The Ford Peanut Butter Drive will kick-off in New England on May 6 at the Worcester DCU Center during a Massachusetts Pirates arena football game. Peanut butter will be collected at the arena or people can donate at foodbank.org/pbdrive. Peanut Butter will also be collected throughout the summer in Boston with the support of the Red Sox Foundation, Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
The Ford Peanut Butter Drive is part of Ford Focus on Child Hunger, which also includes a holiday season hunger campaign in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. Ford Fund and local Ford dealers in the five state region last year donated more than $100,000 to 66 Boys and Girls Clubs to provide meals and snacks to children when school closed during the holidays.
Ford Focus on Child Hunger is one of many hunger relief activities supported by Ford Fund across the United States, where an estimated 43 million people, including about 13 million children, live in fear of going hungry each day.
Ford’s Thirty Under 30 Class of 2017 recently completed a deep dive into hunger and food insecurity issues. The young Ford philanthropists helped develop the Ford Mobile Farm, an innovative hydroponic farm in a shipping container to provide fresh food for a Detroit neighborhood. Another team of Thirty Under 30 introduced modern business technologies to streamline inventory management and client operations at a local food pantry.
In addition, a nationwide fleet of 60 Ford Mobile Food Pantries delivers meals and collects food donations from Texas to Florida to New York. In 2017, Ford Fund served more than 3 million meals across the U.S. Ford Fund also supports Meals on Wheels in several locations, including the annual Holiday Meals on Wheels program for seniors in Detroit. Ford Fund has provided five vehicles in recent years to The Salvation Army Eastern Michigan Division to support the Bread & Bread program and Emergency Disaster Services, while also sponsoring the annual Bed & Bread Radiothon. The Ford Volunteer Corps is also on the job year round sorting and packing food at food banks, and preparing and serving meals at shelters and soup kitchens.
Ford Fund investments support the broader mission of Ford Motor Company to become the world’s most trusted mobility company. Ford Fund is advancing social mobility by helping people climb the financial ladder through access to basic needs, like food and water, and essential services, such as job training and educational opportunities.