The Dunkin' Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Community Foundation (DDBRCF) provided The North Texas Food Bank with a $20,000 grant at a special presentation at NTFB's headquarters. The donation is part of a three-year, $1,000,000 grant from DDBRCF to Feeding America to support critical child hunger initiatives nationwide. The grant will be used to help NTFB provide food to chronically hungry children in North Texas.
NTFB's Food 4 Kids program provides chronically hungry children with a backpack filled with nutritious and easy-to-prepare food each Friday during the school year. NTFB also operates the School Pantry program which distributes non-perishable items and fresh produce to students and their families.
"The North Texas Food Bank is thrilled to receive this grant from The Dunkin' Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Community Foundation," said Jan Pruitt, president and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank. "These funds will allow NTFB to provide food to the children who struggle to find their next meal source on the weekend."
The grant will provide more than 4,000 backpacks full of food, the equivalent of 16,160 meals, for distribution at more than 300 elementary schools in North Texas during the 2014-2015 school year.
According to Mitch Cohen, a Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins franchisee and co-chair of The Dunkin’ Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Community Foundation, “Dunkin’ Brands and its franchisees are committed to serving the basic needs of our communities throughout the country, each and every day. One of the most pressing needs facing our communities is the fight against hunger, particularly childhood hunger. We are proud to make the largest donation in the foundation’s history to Feeding America to support this cause, and we look forward to continuing to partner with Feeding America member food banks in 2014 and beyond.”
The $1,000,000 DDBRCF grant, the largest donation in the Foundation's history, will be distributed among Feeding America member food banks across the United States. The DDBRCF has partnered with Feeding America at the national level since 2007 and in addition to the most recent grant has donated more than $1,000,000 over the past seven years to support Feeding America and its local food banks. Additionally, over the past seven years, the DDBRCF has addressed the issue of hunger relief through both national and local effort. Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins franchisees have held fundraisers to support local food banks, led food drives in the communities they serve and organized volunteer days at their local food banks to help fill backpacks with nutritious meals for children. From 2008 to date, Dunkin' Donuts has a total of 24 volunteer hours serving in NTFB's distribution center. This grant will serve as a platform to build a stronger relationship between the North Texas Food Bank and local Dunkin' Donuts and Baskin-Robbins locations.
About The North Texas Food Bank: The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) is a top-ranked nonprofit relief organization, and the largest non-profit organization in North Texas. The NTFB works to improve the quality of life in North Texas by eliminating the hunger gap. Today the Food Bank provides access to more than 175,000 meals per day to hungry children, seniors and families through a network of more than 1,000 feeding programs and 262 Partner Agencies in 13 counties. In fiscal year 2013, NTFB provided access to 62 million nutritious meals. NTFB is a member of Feeding America, a national hunger relief organization chaired by NTFB CEO Jan Pruitt (feedingamerica.org).
For additional information about NTFB please visit ntfb.org
About The Dunkin’ Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Community Foundation: The mission of The Dunkin’ Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Community Foundation is to serve its neighborhoods by taking care of their basic needs: hunger, children’s health and safety. The DDBRCF brings together a wide network of stakeholders, including franchisees, crew members and employees to serve their local communities. Launched in 2006, The DDBRCF has granted more than $4,500,000 to local charities.