Western States Equipment this week announced its partnership with grocer Albertsons to raise both food and awareness during the most challenging time of year for food banks. The "Dump Hunger" campaign hopes to generate 225,000 pounds of food to support communities across the Intermountain West following the holiday season. Donations to the campaign can be brought to any of the Western States branch locations or participating Albertsons stores.
"Hunger impacts every community and doesn’t stop after the holidays,” said Tom Harris, Western States president. “'Dump Hunger' was created to rally our employees, customers and partners together to fill the shelves of our area food banks. It also reflects Western States' commitment to giving back to the communities in which we live and serve.”
“Albertsons is committed to fighting hunger in our communities and we're excited to find a partner in Western States that shares our passion," said Mike Clawson, president of Albertsons Intermountain West. "We look to build on the momentum from last year's successful Dump Hunger campaign by being involved for all five weeks and generating additional awareness at our stores with some exciting plans ahead.”
Dump Hunger seeks to secure enough food to fill the bed of three CAT 730 dump trucks, the industry’s largest payload vehicle in its class, which are individually capable of holding 75,000 pounds of food. Given the increasing number of households facing food insecurity, the goal of the Dump Hunger campaign has increased by 75,000 pounds for 2011, or one CAT 730 dump truck.
"We continue to see an increase in demand for our services and the Dump Hunger campaign is critical to our post-holiday efforts to meet this demand," said Jason Clark, CEO and president of Second Harvest Inland Northwest in Spokane, Wash. "Hunger is a problem that impacts families and seniors in every neighborhood and region, often regardless of employment status. Food banks serve those who need help during challenging financial times until they are able to move forward and Dump Hunger enables us to better serve those in need after the holidays."
In addition to customer food donations, Albertsons will contribute $20,000 in food items to the participating food bank partners involved with Dump Hunger. Western States will contribute $1 for every 5 pounds of food collected, up to a $15,000 dollar match.
The five-week campaign — Jan. 3 through Feb. 7 — includes all 13 Western States branch locations. To date Dump Hunger has gathered 704,698 pounds of food for the communities it serves.
For more information, visit www.westernstatescat.com/DumpHunger.
Headquartered in Meridian, Idaho, Western States Equipment is an authorized Caterpillar dealer for five mountain states with 13 branches located in Idaho, western Wyoming and Montana, and eastern Oregon and Washington.
