Children helping children … nearly one out of three people served by the Rhode Island Community Food Bank is a child under age 18
9/16/11 – Providence, RI – La Salle Academy announced today the launch of a school wide “Do Something” campaign in support of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. The campaign dovetails with the RI Community Food Bank’s “Nothing” campaign, in which empty cans of “Nothing” are sold for $2.99. Each can purchased provides 10 pounds of nutritious food for hungry Rhode Islanders. The cans are designed with a coin slot to collect spare change that can be donated to further assist the hungry.
La Salle is operating a home room contest, challenging their nearly 1,500 students to bring in spare change to fill the empty cans of Nothing. They have set an ambitious goal of raising $5,000, which would enable the RI Community Food Bank to supply16,000 pounds of food to people in need.
“We commend the La Salle community for taking a leadership role in our Nothing campaign,” says Andrew Schiff, CEO of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank. “Their enthusiastic, schoolwide engagement with the campaign shows what can be done when caring individuals of all ages come together to do something meaningful for their neighbors in need.”
Supported by the Citizens Bank Foundation and designed pro bono by Nail, a Providence ad agency, the “Nothing” campaign symbolizes the reality of hunger experienced by more than 60,000 Rhode Islanders each month who rely on food provided by the Food Bank’s 122 emergency food pantries.
“We know that children have tremendous empathy for those who don’t have enough to eat,” says Schiff. “The idea of having nothing to eat for breakfast, lunch or dinner is almost impossible to imagine. For Rhode Islanders who rely on food supplied by the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, however, the reality of nothing on the table is all too real.”
The RI Community Food Bank also sells “Nothing” at more than 30 grocery and retail stores around the state. In addition, you can buy a “virtual” can of Nothing at www.NothingStore.org. This year, all purchases of virtual “Nothing” cans up to $5,000 will be matched by the Citizens Bank Foundation.
The Rhode Island Community Food Bank is a non-profit organization located in Providence, RI. The Food Bank solicits, stores and distributes food products donated by supermarkets, wholesalers, food processors, local farmers and community food drives. The food is then distributed to the Food Bank’s statewide network of nearly 250 member agency programs. In the past fiscal year, the Food Bank distributed 9.4 million pounds of food. For more information about the Food Bank, please visit www.rifoodbank.org.