Cleveland Foodbank to provide more than 112,000 meals to people in need through new program

CLEVELAND - The Charter One Foundation is making sure thousands of local families in need get Thanksgiving dinner this year.

On Thursday, Charter One volunteers packed food and prepared meals for local hunger relief organizations to take to the Cleveland Foodbank's member agencies. The Foundation donated $75,000 to the foodbank as part of its Carving Out Hunger program. The donation will provide nearly 8,500 Thanksgiving turkeys to people in need. That is an estimated 112,640 meals in total.

"This is the eighth year we've joined our friends at the Cleveland Foodbank for Charter One's Carving Out Hunger program to ensure thousands of hungry people have nutritious meals for the holidays," said Ken Marblestone, president of Charter One and RBS Citizens in Ohio. "We want to make the holiday season enjoyable for everyone, especially our neighbors who are working hard to provide for their families, but need a little extra help this time of year."

The demand for food has continued to increase in Cleveland and the surrounding communities. This year, the Foodbank distributed 35.4 million pounds of food, up from 34.5 million last year. The holiday season is its busiest time of year, when it typically distributes more than 100,000 pounds of food a day.
The turkeys, which total 42 tons and equal approximately 112,640 meals, will be distributed through the Cleveland Foodbank's 618 member agencies.

This donation is part of a $105,000 commitment to food banks across Ohio this year through Charter One's Carving Out Hunger program. The Charter One Foundation has donated more than $800,000 in the past eight years for holiday food programs across Ohio, including the Toledo Northwestern Ohio Food Bank, Akron-Canton Regional Foodbank, Mid-Ohio Foodbank, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley and the Cleveland Foodbank.