Bank of America donates over $1.2M to two groups to help fight hunger in Charlotte
The company is donating approximately $1.275 million to Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina and Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays to address food insecurity in the Charlotte region.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) – Bank of America is donating more than $1.2 million to help fight hunger in Charlotte.
According to Bank of America officials, the company is donating approximately $1.275 million to Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina and Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays to address food insecurity in the Charlotte region.
Earlier this year, Bank of America announced it would make a $100 donation to local hunger relief organizations and food banks for each employee in Charlotte who received a COVID-19 booster shot or vaccine and notified the bank before the end of January.
Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina supplies food throughout a 24-county region of North and South Carolina through a network of over 950 emergency pantries, soup kitchens, homeless shelters and programs for low-income children and seniors, a news release stated.
For every $1 donated, the organization distributes seven pounds of food to the community. Second Harvest’s partner agencies report that requests for food assistance have continued to increase at a rapid pace. The bank’s donation will help Second Harvest distribute approximately 4.46 million pounds of food to individuals and families throughout the Charlotte region, members of the non-profit said.
Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays is the merger of two long-standing hunger-fighting organizations in the community who together provide nutritious groceries and prepared meals, the release stated.
Members said the COVID-19 pandemic brought an explosion in need, tripling the numbers fed in a matter of weeks while at the same time forcing the closure of all 41 brick and mortar pantries. In response, Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays created mobile pantry distribution sites, a home grocery delivery program as well as a Pop-Up Food Share program to distribute excess fresh produce.
Through the funding raised by the booster program, Loaves & Fishes/Friendship Trays will be able to expand its home grocery deliveries, which provided a week’s worth of groceries to over 15,500 people in 2021, members said.
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