Kansas Foodbank Launches Capital Campaign With Cargill/Excel Gift
For Immediate Release: September 25, 2002
Contact: Virginia White (316) 265-4421
WICHITA, KS, September 25, 2002 - The Kansas Foodbank will launch a capital campaign to upgrade and expand their facilities across Kansas. The event will take place on Thursday evening at the site of its new Wichita headquarters at 1925 East Douglas. The launch coincides with the contribution of $300,000 from Cargill and Excel. The Kansas Foodbank 'Blueprint Against Hunger' campaign goal is to raise $5.8 million over the next three years and already several donors in addition to Cargill/Excel have stepped forward to help get the campaign off to a great start with over $1 million already pledged. (Complete list of donors below)
The largest contribution to-date is the $300,000 from employees at Cargill Oilseeds, Horizon Flour Milling and Excel and matched by the Cargill Partnership Fund. The Partnership Fund is a corporate program that matches contributions made by local Cargill facilities to support special projects and services in their communities. "Excel/Cargill joins other great companies and individuals to prepare the Kansas Foodbank to have the right system in place to serve as many as 50,000 men, women and children in Kansas who otherwise might go hungry" says Virginia White, Executive Director at The Kansas Foodbank Warehouse.
When fully funded and completed, the upgraded Kansas Foodbank facilities across Kansas will be able to provide more food to more people at lower costs than ever before. Last year, the Kansas Foodbank gathered, stored and supplied more than $7 million worth of food to more than 500 local church and social service outlets in 86 counties across Kansas. This upgrade will enable the Kansas Foodbank to meet the needs of an anticipated increase of up 50,000 more Kansans who will be in need over the next few years.
The capital campaign will fund a new enlarged Kansas Foodbank facility in Wichita, a new facility in Garden City and upgrades to the facility in Independence.
• It will provide a 100% increase in freezer storage, eliminating the need to pay for freezer storage, which currently amounts to up to $3,000 per month.
• It will provide special areas designed for repacking bulk food donations.
• Larger loading docks and more forklifts will increase the capacity and response time during times of disaster.
• It will provide special areas for food recovery from donated food collected by grocery stores and brought to the Kansas Foodbank by the truckload.
• It will expand distribution capabilities allows for weekly distribution to Northwest Kansas.
• It will provide facilities for partnerships with county and state nutritionists to train agencies and clients on building nutritious meals.
• It will expand overall capacity and cost efficiency to adequately serve new areas in Kansas and growing needs in key areas such as Wichita and Western Kansas.
The Kansas Foodbank Warehouse was founded almost 20 years ago to ensure that no Kansan goes hungry. Over its history the Kansas Foodbank Warehouse has put over 100 million pounds of food into the hands of hungry Kansans.
Campaign Donors To-Date:
John and Rose Ann Baldwin
Titus James
Cargill-Excel
Koch Foundation
Catholic Charities of Wichita
Bruce Kouba
Cessna Aircraft
Kroger Company
Sheldon Coleman Jr.
Mel Hambelton
Conagra Intrust Bank
Paula and Barry Downing
Sedgwick County
Paul and Rosemary Dugan
City of Wichita
Ford Motor Company
Women of Wichita