SAINT PAUL, Minn., April 2, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Second Harvest
Heartland, a member of Feeding America and one of the nation's
largest food banks, is pleased today to announce the recipients of
its fourth annual Hunger Hero award, an award created to honor and
recognize organizational partners who make a compassionate and
transformational impact on those who are hungry in the
heartland.
Last year, more than 600,000 people in Minnesota and western Wisconsin were at risk of missing a meal on
any given day. But as the demand for emergency food increased, so
too, did the generosity of many of Second Harvest Heartland's
charitable partners, six of whom demonstrated extraordinary
leadership in meeting the unprecedented demand for food. It is
these six partners that Second Harvest Heartland honors this year
with its Hunger Hero award, a seal of appreciation designed to
publicly acknowledge those who contributed the most by way of food,
funds, hours, ideas, awareness, and more.
"It's in our mission—'ending hunger through community
partnerships'—that our work is fundamentally centered around
partners who continue to demonstrate commitment and compassion to
providing more meals to families in the communities we serve," said
Second Harvest Heartland CEO, Rob
Zeaske. "We are proud to recognize this year's Hunger Heroes
for their leadership and are honored to be the recipients of such
tremendous support."
Hunger Heroes are recognized in six categories, each of which is
critical to Second Harvest Heartland's work and all of which must
work in tandem to collectively achieve that goal. This year's award
recipients and categories include:
Volunteer: UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group is a
company focused on health and wellbeing, and that spirit is shared
by employees through their gifts of time to help improve the
communities in which they live and work.
As a testament to UnitedHealth Group's commitment to service,
its employees contributed 2,800 volunteer hours to Second Harvest
Heartland in 2012—the equivalent of 350 full business days. They've
also been instrumental in outreach campaigns to help raise
awareness of senior hunger and have hosted food drives at Minnesota
Vikings games.
Innovation: The Sweet Corn Rescue Team
Six hundred
thousand pounds of sweet corn made their way to hungry families
last summer thanks to the partnership of local food relief groups
and corporations in a new food rescue pilot project.
Cargill, General Mills, Hunger-Free Minnesota, SUPERVALU, and
Seneca Foods Corporation came together in partnership with Second
Harvest Heartland to provide transportation, equipment, warehouse
space, and financial support to rescue corn that would have
otherwise gone to waste and deliver it to those in need. This
first-of-its-kind agricultural surplus initiative is planned to be
repeated this year.
Financial: Target
Supporting communities through
giving has always been a cornerstone of Target's business, and its
widespread support of Second Harvest Heartland is a testament to
that commitment to community.
In 2012, Target was Second Harvest Heartland's largest financial
donor. Target provides invaluable support to Second Harvest
Heartland in more visible ways through employee volunteerism, food
donations and sponsorship of the Target Meals for Minds school
pantry program, which has distributed more than one million meals
to local kids and families in the last two years.
Awareness: The Boston Consulting Group
The Boston
Consulting Group (BCG), in conjunction with Hunger-Free Minnesota,
designed a unique data analysis tool, "Community Close-Up," that
combines data on food insecurity and missing meals within each
census tract in Minnesota.
This tool provides insight into how we can fight and understand
hunger at a very local level and allows us to better target
high-need, underserved populations in our communities. BCG's
leadership on this project will continue to have a significant
influence on hunger-fighting strategies across our state and
region.
Food: Edling Farms
Edling Farms, a family-run potato
grower in Clear Lake, Minn., has
donated more than four million pounds of potatoes to Second Harvest
Heartland since 2003 and continues to be one of our largest
suppliers of fresh food grown right here in the heartland.
Through generous donations, the growers helped spearhead a key
initiative to efficiently collect excess produce, enabling Second
Harvest Heartland and partners to provide locally grown, farm fresh
food to our neighbors in need—and in turn, Edling Farms has helped
set an important example for growers and processors alike.
Green: Cub Foods
Cub Foods is helping build stronger
communities beyond its store walls by bringing more nutritious food
to more people every day.
In 2012, Cub Foods contributed more than seven million pounds of
fresh food through our Retail Food Rescue Program. In addition to
its donation of food and grocery products, Cub Foods has generously
given time, funds and expertise to significantly help Second
Harvest Heartland's hunger-relief efforts through campaigns and
events such as the "Give a Little, Feed a Lot" cause marketing
campaign during Hunger Action Month, the Stamp Out Hunger food
drive and as the presenting sponsor at Dish, Second Harvest
Heartland's annual gala.
About Cargill
Cargill is an international producer
and marketer of food, agricultural, financial and industrial
products and services. Founded in 1865, the privately held
company employs 140,000 people in 65 countries. Cargill helps
customers succeed through collaboration and innovation, and is
committed to applying its global knowledge and experience to help
meet economic, environmental and social challenges wherever it does
business. For more information, visit Cargill.com and its news
center.
About CUB Foods
CUB Foods offers customers the
freshest produce, widest selection and food expertise throughout
the store to meet their everyday grocery needs. In addition to
innovative local, ethnic and organic food sections, CUB stores
offer shoppers multiple in-store services including fresh bakery,
full-service deli and meat departments, pharmacy and banking. CUB
Foods is based in Stillwater,
Minnesota and currently operates 67 stores in Minnesota and Illinois. For company news and information,
visit www.cub.com.
About Edling Farms
Edling Farms, located near
Clear Lake, Minn., is owned and
operated by Jeff, Mark, Brett, and Jerome
Edling. This third generation farm runs 1,200 acres, 450 of
which are fresh market potatoes. They raise, wash and package
Red Norland, Yukon Gold and Russet
potatoes. They also grow corn, soybeans, seed corn, squash, and
pumpkins.
About General Mills
General Mills is one of the
world's leading food companies, operating in more than 100
countries. Its brands include Cheerios, Fiber One, Häagen-Dazs,
Nature Valley, Yoplait, Betty
Crocker, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Old El Paso, and
Wanchai Ferry. Headquartered in
Minneapolis, Minn., USA, General
Mills had fiscal 2012 worldwide sales of US $16.7 billion. Continuing its tradition of
generous giving and global community support, General Mills
contributed more than $143 million to
charitable causes in fiscal year 2012. General Mills invests in and
collaborates with community organizations and programs that focus
on alleviating hunger and advancing nutrition wellness. In
addition, 83 percent of U.S. employees volunteer. To learn more
about the ways General Mills nourishes lives through philanthropy
and community engagement, please join us on Facebook at
Facebook.com/GeneralMillsGives.
About Hunger-Free Minnesota
Hunger-Free Minnesota is
a time-limited campaign to close the 100-million missing-meal gap
in Minnesota. Among its partners
and supporters are community leaders and citizens, nonprofit
agencies and organizations, food banks, food shelves, and
corporations. Research partners include The Boston Consulting Group
and EnSearch, Inc. Hunger-Free Minnesota's strategic action plan
focuses on emergency food system capacity, the Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and child hunger and
nutrition. The campaign encourages individuals and organizations to
"Fight Hunger Where You Live." More information is available at
www.hungerfreemn.org.
About Seneca Foods Corporation
Seneca Foods is a
processor of canned fruits and vegetables with manufacturing
facilities located throughout the United
States. Its products are sold under the Libby's, Blue Boy,
Aunt Nellie's Farm Kitchen, Stokely's, READ, Seneca Farms and
Seneca labels as well as through
the private label and industrial markets. In addition, under an
alliance with General Mills Operations, LLC, a successor to the
Pillsbury Company and a subsidiary of General Mills, Inc.,
Seneca produces canned and frozen
vegetables, which are sold by General Mills Operations, LLC under
the Green Giant label. Seneca's
common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Stock Market under the
symbols "SENEA" and "SENEB". SENEA is included the S&P SmallCap
600, Russell 2000 and Russell 3000 indices.
About SUPERVALU
SUPERVALU Inc. is one of the largest
grocery wholesalers and retailers in the U.S. with annual sales of
approximately $17 billion. SUPERVALU
serves customers across the United
States through a network of approximately 3,470 stores
composed of 1,950 independent stores serviced primarily by the
Company's food distribution business, 1,331 Save-A-Lot stores, of
which 950 are operated by licensee owners; and 191 traditional
retail grocery stores. Headquartered in Minnesota, SUPERVALU has approximately 35,000
employees. For more information about SUPERVALU visit
www.supervalu.com.
About Target
Minneapolis-based Target Corporation (NYSE:
TGT) serves guests at 1,808 stores – 1,784 in the United States and 24 in Canada – and at Target.com. Since 1946, Target
has given 5 percent of its profit through community grants and
programs; today, that giving equals more than $4 million a week. For more information about
Target's commitment to corporate responsibility, visit
Target.com/corporateresponsibility.
About The Boston Consulting Group
The Boston
Consulting Group (BCG) is a global management consulting firm and
the world's leading advisor on business strategy. We partner with
clients from the private, public, and not-for-profit sectors
in all regions to identify their highest-value opportunities,
address their most critical challenges, and transform their
enterprises. Our customized approach combines deep insight into the
dynamics of companies and markets with close collaboration at all
levels of the client organization. This ensures that our clients
achieve sustainable competitive advantage, build more capable
organizations, and secure lasting results. Founded in 1963, BCG is
a private company with 78 offices in 43 countries.
About UnitedHealth Group
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:
UNH) is a diversified health and well-being company dedicated
to helping people live healthier lives and making health care work
better. With headquarters in Minnetonka,
Minn., UnitedHealth Group offers a broad spectrum of
products and services through two business platforms:
UnitedHealthcare, which provides health care coverage and benefits
services; and Optum, which provides information and
technology-enabled health services. Through its businesses,
UnitedHealth Group serves more than 80 million people worldwide.
For more information, visit UnitedHealth Group at
www.unitedhealthgroup.com.
About Second Harvest Heartland
Second Harvest
Heartland, the Upper Midwest's largest hunger-relief organization,
works to reinvent hunger relief through leadership and
innovation—to help those who are hungry today, as well as provide
the means for those who are hungry to be fed tomorrow. Pioneering
partnerships and programs paved the way for Second Harvest
Heartland to distribute more than 76 million pounds of grocery
products last year to hungry seniors, families and children through
nearly 1,000 non-profit member agencies and programs serving 59
counties in Minnesota and western
Wisconsin. For more information,
visit www.2harvest.org or call 651.484.5117.
SOURCE Second Harvest Heartland