AMERICA'S SECOND HARVEST-THE NATION'S FOOD BANK NETWORK RECOGNIZES EIGHT DONORS FOR THEIR HUNGER-RELIEF EFFORTS

CHICAGO --- October 2, 2006 --- America's Second Harvest — The Nation's Food Bank Network has honored eight donors for contributing to the organization's mission to end hunger in America.

The recipients of the 2006 Hunger's Hope Awards are: Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Hasbro Children's Fund, The Procter and Gamble Company, The Kroger Co., C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc., Tyson Foods, Inc., Seafreeze Cold Storage, and Freighthouse.com.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., their 4,200 Wal-Mart stores and SAM's Club stores were honored with the 2006 "Sponsor of the Year" award for converting the America’s Second Harvest, "Be A Part of the Solution" theme into a consumer promotion that encouraged Wal-Mart customers to make donations in support of the organization’s mission. A total of $8.7 million was raised during this one-month campaign held in March, 2006.

Hasbro Children’s Fund was honored with the 2006 "Grantmaker of the Year" award. They have provided nearly $725,000 in gifts and pledges to the BackPack Program, to date. This year, they made a three-year commitment of $413,000 to support the BackPack Program, which is designed to meet the needs of hungry children at times when other resources are not available by providing backpacks full of nutritious, kid-friendly food through discrete food distribution.

The Procter & Gamble Company was honored with the 2006 “Donor of the Year” award for increasing its annual donations by 10 million pounds over the previous fiscal year.  The company donates essential products such as household cleaners, diapers, paper goods, toothpaste, toothbrushes, razors and shampoo. In addition, the Procter & Gamble’s Tide operating unit, the Tide® CleanStart program was started after Hurricane Katrina as families began to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of the hurricane. Since the kickoff of the mobile initiative on November 10th, 2005, the Tide® CleanStart team has washed thousands of loads of laundry and has given loads of hope to families rebuilding their lives.

The Kroger Company was honored with the 2006 “Retailer of the Year” award for donating over 29 million pounds to the America’s Second Harvest Network last year. Kroger was recognized this year in large part due to their leadership in being the founding partner of the "Bringing Hope to the Table" program, which is a partnership between America’s Second Harvest – The Nation’s Food Bank Network, Acosta, Kroger and various manufacturer partners. In collaboration, these partners donated $3 million, including $1 million worth of food and grocery products, during the first two weeks of June, 2006.

C&S Wholesale Grocers, Inc. was honored with the 2006 "Grocery Distributor of the Year”"award for their donation of over 10 million pounds of product to more than two dozen America's Second Harvest Network Members last year. In the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, C&S supplied more than one million pounds of water, food, ice and supplies to residents of the gulf coast.

Freightquote.com®, a leading provider of web-based freight transportation management services, was honored with the 2006 "Logistics Partner of the Year" award for their financial contributions, donation of transportation services, superior technology solutions and their involvement with their local Food Bank, Harvesters - The Community Food Network in Kansas City, Missouri. Freightquote.com was quick to step up to the plate when Hurricane Katrina hit last year, ensuring that the Network could secure trucks to move product to the affected regions quickly. 

Tyson Foods, Inc. was honored with the 2006 "Protein Distributor of the Year" award in recognition of a six million pound donation of chicken. The donation is the largest commitment of protein ever given to America’s Second Harvest. This year, Tyson and America’s Second Harvest announced a three-year partnership, with Tyson pledging an additional 10 million pounds of protein to the Network.

Seafreeze Cold Storage was honored with the 2006 "Seafood Donor of the Year" award for providing storage and transfer services, as well as secondary processing, of nearly 6 million pounds of seafood products provided by SeaShare since 1997 to America’s Second Harvest. Seafreeze worked closely with SeaShare and with America’s Second Harvest to comply with Seashare’s unique processing and packaging requirements for nearly all of Seashare’s salmon steaks since 1993.

"We cannot express enough how grateful we are for the endless support these donors have provided to our Network," said Vicki Escarra, president and CEO of America’s Second Harvest. "These donors have truly been instrumental in the fight to end hunger in America."

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America's Second Harvest — The Nation's Food Bank Network is the largest charitable domestic hunger-relief organization in the country with a Network of more than 200 Member food banks and food-rescue organizations serving all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.  The America's Second Harvest Network secures and distributes more than 2 billion pounds of donated food and grocery products annually; and supports approximately 50,000 local charitable agencies operating more than 94,000 programs including food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after-school programs and Kids Cafes. Last year, the America's Second Harvest Network provided food assistance to more than 25 million low-income hungry people in the United States, including 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors.  For more on the America's Second Harvest Network, please visit www.secondharvest.org.

Contact:
Ross Fraser
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312.641.6422