Perdue-funded mobile market helps hungry
Perdue Farms and the Maryland Food Bank (MFB) unveiled a new state-of-the-art mobile market to support the food bank's efforts to distribute fresh, wholesome food on Maryland's Eastern Shore, where the groups say roughly 42,000 individuals are food insecure. The mobile market was funded through a $250,000 gift from the Perdue family and a $100,000 grant from the Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation in celebration of the company's 100th anniversary.
The 26-foot vehicle will serve as an "on-the-go" supermarket, traveling to communities in eight Eastern Shore counties — Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico and Worcester — that lack brick-and-mortar food assistance facilities and distributing food to residents in need. Additionally, the mobile market will partner with different agencies to provide access to specialized services, including health-related screenings and case management support, designed to put food-insecure Marylanders on the road toward self-sufficiency.
"At Perdue, we believe no one should go hungry in a country as rich in resources like ours," said Kim Nechay, executive director of the Perdue Foundation. "We want to do all we can to assure that our neighbors in need have access to fresh and nutritious foods. That's why this mobile market is such a blessing and why we are so proud to invest in it. This new resource provides that access by taking the Maryland Food Bank right into the areas and neighborhoods where there are real needs and where the residents don't often have the ability to get to programs that can help them in this way."
The funding from Perdue aligns with the company's "Delivering Hope To Our Neighbors" hunger relief initiative focused on providing access to nutritious protein for people struggling with hunger and making meaningful progress toward ending hunger. In January, the Perdue Foundation announced a $1 million donation to support 10 of its Feeding America-affiliated food bank partners in celebration of the company's Centennial. The mobile market unveiling is the first event on Perdue's 10-stop tour to celebrate the Foundation gifts and its partnerships with food banks nationwide.
"To celebrate Perdue's 100th anniversary, the Foundation and the Perdue Family looked for ways to make a real difference in the communities that the company calls home,” said Perdue Farms chairman Jim Perdue. “The Foundation decided to invest in fighting hunger and highlighting our company's desire to address food insecurity across the country.