Kicking off a month-long local effort to fight hunger, NBC Bay Area is once again partnering with Safeway Stores for a one-day food drive on Saturday, November 23 to benefit Bay Area Food Banks, a collaboration of six food banks serving over 725,000 local residents each month. The “Help Us End Hunger” food drive will take place at 156 Safeway locations throughout the Bay Area making it easy for community members to participate and help feed their neighbors in need. “Our goal is to create awareness about hunger in the Bay Area and provide our viewers an easy way to help out,” said Rich Cerussi, NBC Bay Area President and General Manager. “Last year we more than doubled our goal and collected over 50,000 bags in one day, we can’t wait to see what our volunteers and donors accomplish this year. We thank the community for all of their support to make this drive so successful.” “We thank NBC Bay Area and Safeway for bringing attention to the severity of local hunger and for creating a simple way for anyone in our community to help a family in need,” said Kathy Jackson, Second Harvest Food Bank CEO. “Bay Area Food Banks are feeding people in every neighborhood and through this drive you can donate to make a difference in the lives of people where you live. ”For the last four years, NBC Bay Area has partnered with Safeway to help stock the shelves of local food banks. In addition to providing on air promotion, the station will been listing hundreds of volunteers – including NBC Bay Area anchors and reporters helping at their own neighborhood Safeway Stores – on Saturday, November 23 to encourage shoppers to donate food items. Individuals interested in volunteering to collect food at a local Safeway on November 23, can visit www.bayareaproud.com or contact their local food bank to register. To make the donation process easier, a specially produced shopping bag filled with items that food banks need the most will be available for $10 at all local Safeway stores. These bags include pasta and sauce, canned vegetables and important protein items like peanut butter and canned tuna. Once collected, the bags will be delivered to food banks. The bags will be available for purchase from November 6 through December 25.“Safeway is proud to be partnering with our area food banks on this community-wide collection effort,” said Karl Schroeder, President of Safeway Northern California. “Assisting people who need a helping hand during the holidays and throughout the year is an important part of Safeway’s giving programs. ”Last year, the food drive collected more than 100,000 bags of food at Bay Area locations, more than doubling the previous year’s collection.
