March 25, 1999 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Philip Morris Companies, the food and tobacco giant, has pledged to provide $50-million in cash and $50-million worth of food over the next four years to help feed the hungry.
The Philip Morris Fight Against Hunger project is believed to be the largest-ever corporate donation to fight hunger. In 1997, the latest year for which data are available, $27.1-million was donated by 335 grant makers to organizations that feed the poor or concentrate on ways to improve nutrition, according to the Foundation Center, in New York.
Philip Morris’s cash grants will be made primarily to:
* Food-delivery programs for the homebound, including the elderly and people with AIDS.
* Emergency food-distribution organizations such as food banks, soup kitchens, food pantries, homeless and domestic-violence shelters, and charities that salvage perishable foods.
The food will go to Second Harvest, the national network of 188 food banks. All of the food will be provided through Kraft Foods, a subsidiary of Philip Morris.
Second Harvest estimates that it will be able to provide an additional 30 million to 40 million more meals over the next four years because of the food donation. In 1997, Second Harvest took in more than $400-million in cash and in-kind donations and distributed food and goods to 26 million Americans.
The Philip Morris donation “couldn’t have come at a better time,” says Deborah Leff, president of Second Harvest. “Hunger is not on the decline. The demand at many of our food banks is up.”
In fact, a survey of 30 cities by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that 21 of those cities reported a rise in demand for emergency food assistance. Requests for food increased, on average, by 14 per cent, the survey found. And, on average, 21 per cent of food requests had to be turned down because of a lack of food.
Part of the increase in demand for help, Ms. Leff says, is coming from the millions of low-income Americans who, under the new welfare system, are no longer eligible for government benefits such as food stamps.
Karen Brosius, director of corporate contributions at Philip Morris, said that the corporation hopes its new campaign will raise awareness of the nation’s hunger problems and encourage additional contributions from other companies and donors.
For more information, contact the Philip Morris Fight Against Hunger, Philip Morris Companies, 120 Park Avenue, New York 10017; (800) 883-2422.
For more information or a copy of “A Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in American Cities: 1998,” contact Chip Brown, U.S. Conference of Mayors, 1620 I Street, N.W., Washington 20006; (202) 293-7330. The report is free for food banks, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and other non-profit organizations that fight hunger and homelessness. Others must pay $16 for each copy.
