Employee-nominated grants drive community
involvement and impact during Hunger Action Month
CHICAGO, Sept. 10,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- The Conagra Brands Foundation
has announced the 2024 recipients of the "Nourish Our Community"
grants, awarding one-year grants to 20 nonprofits across 10 states,
totaling $350,000 in funding. In
support of Hunger Action Month, a time when people come together
nation-wide to raise awareness and take action on the issue of food
insecurity, Conagra's involvement through these grants will help to
create positive social impact in the communities where its
employees live and work.
For over three decades, Conagra's Nourish Our Community grant
program has empowered and encouraged employees to take a role in
the grant-making process, nominating nonprofit organizations that
address the issues of food insecurity, cooking skills, nutrition
education, healthy and active lifestyles and/or urban agriculture.
Each grant application is thoughtfully reviewed by a committee of
cross-functional employees who analyze, discuss, and select the
final recipients.
"Every September, the Nourish Our Community grant program gives
our employees the power to make a difference locally, providing
relief to their neighbors who may be facing food insecurity," said
Robert Rizzo, Senior Director,
Conagra Brands Foundation. "Through this program, we not only raise
awareness on this issue, but simultaneously provide financial
support to organizations that can make a direct, meaningful impact
in our communities."
Hunger Action Month, a Feeding America initiative, aims to take
action on the issue of food insecurity in the United States. Conagra Brands Foundation's
longstanding partnership with Feeding America includes a wholistic
approach that strategically leverages employee volunteerism,
product donations and cash contributions to impact food insecurity
on a national level. Conagra's philanthropic efforts support
national research that increases the collective understanding of
the issue of hunger and its impact on vulnerable populations and
diverse communities; philanthropic support to improve access to
nutritious and culturally relevant food through capacity building
efforts that increase front line hunger relief agencies efforts to
better serve the community and, national efforts to advance equity,
diversity and inclusions efforts. Conagra also provides significant
product donations that are distributed to Feeding America's network
of 200 food banks.
More information about each of the "Nourish Our Community" grant
recipients can be found below:
AGING WITH SPIRIT FOUNDATION (NE)
Project:
Meals on Wheels: Nourishing Older Adults Through
Partnerships
Aging with Spirit Foundation provides
daily meals to elderly people in the community. The Meals on Wheels
project strives to help older individuals facing food insecurity by
providing them with a hot, nutritious meal daily. The
Conagra Brand Foundation funding will help to deliver over
1,600 meals.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee:
Susan J. – Omaha, NE
ARCHBOLD FISH
(OH)
Project: Food Assistance
Support from the Conagra Brands Foundation will
enable Archbold Fish pantry to purchase a wider
variety of food items, including milk, eggs, bread, and protein.
This will create a more consistent food base for pantry
clients. Archbold Fish pantry is dedicated to
assisting low-income community members, ensuring they have access
to essential nutrition.
Nominated by Conagra Brands
employee: Leann K. – Archbold,
OH
BACK PACK BLESSINGS (GA)
Project: Weekend
Meals and Snacks
Back Pack Blessings fills
backpacks with a variety of nonperishable, child-friendly foods.
These backpacks are distributed to elementary students, ensuring
they have something to take home over the weekends when their food
access might be limited. By doing so, the program helps increase
academic potential, as students are not worrying about hunger while
at school. The Conagra Brand Foundation's funding
helps keep costs low, ensuring the availability of backpacks for
550 students.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee:
Stacy R. – Atlanta, GA
BRIDGE TO HOPE (WI)
Project: Hope for the
Hungry
Bridge to Hope provides shelter and
assistance to individuals impacted by domestic violence, sexual
assault, and human trafficking. With funding from the
Conagra Brands Foundation, Bridge to Hope will increase the
variety of foods and protein options in its pantry by 50 percent.
Additionally, the funds will be used to supply kitchen kits,
ensuring clients have the necessary kitchen supplies when they move
into their own homes.
Nominated by Conagra Brands
employee: Sara B. – Menomonie,
WI
CARE FOR FRIENDS (IL)
Project: Food
Access for Our Neighbors
The Conagra
Brands Foundation grant supports Care for Friends' efforts to
fulfill their mission of providing fundamental food programs for
individuals in Chicago
experiencing or at risk of homelessness. Care for Friends offers
nutritious on-site meals in a welcoming communal setting, operates
a well-stocked food pantry, and delivers fresh groceries to
low-income families.
Nominated by Conagra Brands
employee: Brad H. – Chicago,
IL
CHARITY BLOOMS (IL)
Project: Growing the
Youth Community
Charity Blooms is dedicated to
enhancing the quality of life in their local community through
horticulture, agriculture, and education. Over the past seven
years, they have grown and donated over 21,000 pounds of food to
the community. The Conagra Brands Foundation grant
will support improvements in their production methods for the 2025
growing season.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee:
Brenda J. – Chicago, IL
CITY SPROUTS (NE)
Project: Growing Food
Access
City Sprouts uses urban agriculture to
foster equitable food systems, offer educational opportunities, and
strengthen community bonds. Each year, over a thousand community
members visit its garden. With support from the Conagra
Brands Foundation, City Sprouts aims to enhance accessibility
by installing a paved pathway and educational signage
in English, Spanish, Braille, and imagery. These additions
will ensure that everyone in the community can enjoy and benefit
from the garden.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee:
Randy V. – Omaha, NE
COMMUNITY ACTION OF SOUTHEAST
IOWA (IA)
Project: Community Action Lee
County Iowa Food Pantries
Funds provided by
the Conagra Brands Foundation support Community Action
of Southeast Iowa's efforts to
purchase food for two of their food pantries in Lee County. This funding will ensure a variety
of food to meet the diverse needs of the population and help
increase in the availability of protein in the
pantries.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Sarah
Y. – Fort Madison, IA
COMPLETELY KIDS (NE)
Project: Weekend
Food Program
Completely KIDS is committed to
empowering and educating children and families. The funds provided
by the Conagra Brands Foundation will go towards
purchasing healthy food items for take-home food bags, a component
of the Weekend Food Program. The Weekend Food Program is designed
to ensure that every child participating in its afterschool program
has access to nutritious food to sustain them over the weekend,
when a meal is not guaranteed. This program provides over 800
take-home bags of food per week.
Nominated by Conagra
Brands employee: Brittany R. – Omaha,
NE
CONSCIOUS ALLIANCE (CO)
Project: Feed
Kids Not Landfills
Funding from the Conagra
Brands Foundation helps Conscious Alliance to fulfill its
mission of rescuing and redistributing nutritious meals and snacks
to children in the Denver metro
area. By reducing food waste and ensuring that rescued food reaches
those in need, the organization significantly enhances the physical
and emotional well-being of these children.
Nominated
by Conagra Brands employee: Kimbralee H. – Denver, CO
CROSS CHRISTIANS REACHING OUT IN SOCIAL SERVICE
(MN)
Project: CROSS Food Recovery and Food Shelf
Programs
For over 40 years, Cross Services has provided emergency food
services to individuals and families in Hennepin County. With support from
the Conagra Brands Foundation, Cross Services will
enhance its community food shelf. The community food shelf operates
to address food insecurity by rescuing and redistributing nearly
1.5 million pounds of perishable food, ensuring that almost all of
the distributed food is saved from going to
waste.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Pat S. –
Maple Grove, MN
GIRLS INC. OF WASHINGTON
COUNTY (MD)
Project: Kids
Café
Girls Inc. is dedicated to serving young women
in the community through impactful programs that provide access to
healthy and nutritious meals and snacks. These programs promote the
adoption of positive, long-term eating habits. This grant supports
the Kids Café, which provides daily snacks and dinners. The girls
in the program are involved in planning the menu, budgeting, and
using produce they grow in the organization's garden for the
meals.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Ashley M.
– Hagerstown, MD
GOOD SAMARITAN FOOD PANTRY (IN)
Project:
Healthy Harvest 365
Good Samaritan Food
Pantry's Healthy Harvest 365 project aims to partner with local
growers and producers to purchase fresh fruits, vegetables, meats,
eggs, and other natural food products year-round. Additionally, the
project educates clients on these items' preparation, use, and
nutritional benefits. Funds from the Conagra Brands
Foundation help keep costs low, ensuring clients have access to
fresh, nutritious products throughout the
year.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Rena C. –
Rensselaer, IN
IT'S A BLESSING TO BE A BLESSING (MD)
Project:
Bagged Lunch Initiative
Support from
the Conagra Brands Foundation will enhance the Bagged
Lunch Initiative, which offers free bagged lunches to economically
disadvantaged individuals and families in Hagerstown, MD. This funding will enable
the organization to expand its capacity, providing 120 lunches
daily from Monday to Friday.
Nominated by Conagra
Brands employee: Rhianna S. – Hagerstown,
MD
JUSTICE FOR OUR NEIGHBORS NEBRASKA (NE)
Project:
Nourishing Our New Neighbors
Justice for our
Neighbors Nebraska, the state's largest nonprofit immigration legal
services provider, will use funding from the Conagra
Brands Foundation to cover the first week of food for its
clients. This support ensures that clients' new homes are fully
stocked with culturally appropriate food, providing a warm and
welcoming environment for families upon their
arrival.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Julie
P. – Council Bluffs, IA
LITTLE BROTHERS - FRIENDS OF THE ELDERLY
(IL)
Project: Food Bag Delivery
Program
Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly has
a mission of relieving isolation and loneliness among the elderly.
The Nourish Our Community grant will fund fresh food, protein, and
pantry staples to prepare a week's worth of meals for 160 Chicago
seniors monthly who are living independently and would not
otherwise have access to sufficient nutritious
food.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Erin D. –
Chicago, IL
NOURISH MEALS ON WHEELS (CO)
Project:
Nourish Meals on Wheels
Nourish Meals on Wheels is
dedicated to enhancing the lives of older and homebound adults in
South Metro Denver by delivering nutritious meals and essential
services that foster dignity, well-being, and independence. With
the support of the Conagra Brands Foundation grant,
Nourish Meals on Wheels aims to expand access to nutritious food
for older, low-income, and homebound individuals who are unable to
afford the cost of meals.
Nominated by Conagra Brands
employee: Sue P. – Denver,
CO
OMAHA FORUS
(NE)
Project: Pride Pantry / Healthy
Futures
Omaha ForUs fosters community and
equitable spaces for LGBTQ+ individuals and families
in Eastern Nebraska and
Western Iowa. Support from
the Conagra Brands Foundation will enhance food
security and nutrition for LGBTQ+ youth and families
by supporting the Center's food pantry and offering healthy snacks,
nutrition education and the development of essential kitchen
skills.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Jason H.
– Omaha, NE
STAR FARM CHICAGO
(IL)
Project: Community Dinners and Food
Delivery Program with Star Farm Fresh
Kitchen
Star Farms aims to strengthen the
Back of the Yards community in Chicago by using its urban farm as a platform
for vocational programming, community events, and farm-to-table
workshops. The grant from the Conagra Brands
Foundation will support community dinners designed to create a
space for community members to connect and provide feedback on
their needs and how Star Farms can best support them. These dinners
will also enhance their culinary program by allowing participants
to apply their training.
Nominated by Conagra Brands
employee: Kathryn A. – Chicago,
IL
YOU FEED THEM MISSIONAL FOOD PANTRY
(IN)
Project: Food Pantry Initiative
You Feed Them Missional Food Pantry provides
food to anyone experiencing food insecurity. The support from
the Conagra Brands Foundation will assist in
facilitating their food distribution program. You Feed Them has
been distributing bags of groceries and toiletries to individuals
in need in the Indianapolis area.
The funds will be utilized to purchase food, with a specific focus
on protein, which will be distributed to the
community.
Nominated by Conagra Brands employee: Sarah
A. – Indianapolis, IN
About Conagra Brands
Conagra Brands, Inc. (NYSE: CAG), is one of North
America's leading branded food companies. We combine a
100-year history of making quality food with agility and a
relentless focus on collaboration and innovation. The company's
portfolio is continuously evolving to satisfy consumers'
ever-changing food preferences. Conagra's brands include Birds
Eye®, Duncan Hines®, Healthy
Choice®, Marie Callender's®,
Reddi-wip®, Slim Jim®,
Angie's® BOOMCHICKAPOP®, and many more.
As a corporate citizen, we aim to do what's right for our business,
our employees, our communities and the world. Headquartered
in Chicago, Conagra Brands generated fiscal 2024 net sales of
more than $12 billion. For more information,
visit www.conagrabrands.com.
About Conagra Brands Foundation
Conagra Brands Foundation believes everyone has a right to healthy
and nutritious food knowing that food insecurity exists in every
U.S. county. The Foundation partners with exceptional national and
local nonprofits with high-impact programs located in the
communities where we live and work. By focusing our efforts within
five areas: Direct Food Access, Cooking Skills, Nutrition
Education, Healthy and Active Lifestyles and Urban Agriculture, we
are able to be a leader in the fight against food insecurity
in North America.
For all media inquiries, please contact:
media@conagra.com
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