ATLANTA, Feb. 29, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Americold (www.americold.com), the global leader in temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics to the food industry, and Feed the Children are providing 500 backpacks to students at Seaborn Lee Elementary School (4600 Scarborough Road) in Atlanta, GA in a backpack build activity.
The event, sponsored by Americold, involved 300 of the company’s associates building the backpacks for distribution. The backpacks will afford local Atlanta, GA students an equal opportunity to succeed in the classroom, creating a brighter future for those who otherwise may not have had enough to continue in school.
Each backpack built during the event contained school supplies and basic hygiene essentials. Dozens of similar backpack builds happen around the country in conjunction with Feed the Children’s Homeless Education and Literacy Program (H.E.L.P), and this is Americold’s second program contribution.
In the United States, more than one million students are considered homeless. The issue is too big to tackle alone. Because of likeminded corporate, church, and homeless liaison partners, Feed the Children’s H.E.L.P. and backpack builds are able to reach homeless children in every state across the nation.
“In our first year of partnership, we’re proud to have ‘pick ‘n packed’ 500 backpacks with school supplies for Atlanta children, and donated more than $30,000 in food transportation services with 20 full semi-truck loads supporting the Home Front Harvest and Feed the Children summer meal programs. In all, we’ve enabled more than one million pounds of donated food to get to more than 5,000 deserving families,” said Fred Boehler, Americold’s President and CEO. “In our second year of partnership, we’re aiming to better that, starting now with almost 300 of our associates donating their time to put together hundreds of packs with much-needed school supplies to help children in the local community. It’s been a lot of fun and very rewarding for all of us.”
“We are always delighted when local organizations form partnerships with our schools to enhance student learning. Not only are you providing a gift that is useful right now, you are also inspiring students—through your story—to think about the future,” said Kenneth Zeff, Interim Superintendent for Fulton County Schools. “We appreciate Feed the Children and Americold sponsoring this donation of backpacks for our Seaborn Lee Elementary School students and look forward to collaborating more in the future.”
“It’s because of partners like Americold that this vital effort is possible. Together, we can help these children succeed and work toward the greater goal of breaking the cycle of poverty,” said J.C. Watts, Jr., Feed the Children President and CEO.
About Feed the Children
Feed the Children believes that it can create a world where no child goes to bed hungry. Since 1979, Feed the Children has grown into one of the largest U.S.-based charities. It is accredited by GuideStar Exchange and the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, maintains a 4-star rating from Charity Navigator, and is also a member of InterAction. Through its network of agencies, Feed the Children distributed more than $344 million in food, essentials, educational supplies, and medicine, impacting close to 9 million individuals in the U.S. and more than 4.9 million individuals internationally, for a total of 13.9 million individuals globally in fiscal year 2014.
Visit www.feedthechildren.org for more information.
About the Fulton County School System
The Fulton County School System is the fourth largest school system in Georgia. Approximately 96,000 students attend 101 schools in the cities of Alpharetta, Chattahoochee Hills, College Park, East Point, Fairburn, Hapeville, Johns Creek, Milton, Mountain Park, Palmetto, Roswell, Sandy Springs, and Union City. The district also serves students in unincorporated Fulton County.
About Americold
Americold is the global leader in temperature-controlled warehousing and logistics to the food industry, offering the most comprehensive warehousing, transportation and logistics solutions in the world. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Americold owns and operates over 180 temperature-controlled warehouses, with 1 billion cubic feet of storage, in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, China, Argentina and Canada. Americold’s facilities are an integral component of the supply chain connecting food producers, processors, distributors, and retailers to consumers. Americold serves more than 3,000 customers and employs 11,000 associates worldwide.
More information about Americold is at www.americold.com.