Hilton Worldwide Joins Feeding America and The Global FoodBanking Network to Minimize Food Waste and Alleviate Hunger

MCLEAN, Va., Oct. 16, 2012 /3BL Media/ - Today, on World Food Day, Hilton Worldwide announced multi-year partnerships with Feeding America and The Global FoodBanking Network to secure food and reduce hunger in communities where it operates around the globe. The collaborations will enable Hilton Worldwide hotels to collect safe, surplus food from conferences and daily food and beverage operations that would otherwise be thrown away and make it available to those in need.

Feeding America and The Global FoodBanking Network will connect Hilton Worldwide hotels with local food banks and their networks of local community agencies to facilitate food delivery to school feeding programs, food pantries, soup kitchens, hospices, after-school programs and other community programs that provide food to families in need of nourishing meals. In year one, Hilton Worldwide will pilot food donation systems in New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Orlando and Kansas City in the United States working with Feeding America. Working with The Global FoodBanking Network, the company will provide food to food banks in international markets, with initial efforts in Egypt.

“Each year billions of pounds of food go to waste, while at the same time more than 850 million people do not have enough to eat,” said Jennifer Silberman, vice president of corporate responsibility, Hilton Worldwide. “For one in eight people globally, hunger is a reality, and Hilton Worldwide is committed to securing food resources where we live, work and travel. Partnering with Feeding America and The Global FoodBanking Network will help us collect safe, unused food from our hotels and distribute it to local people and organizations in need across the globe.”

Pilot activities will focus on optimizing food and beverage operations to minimize food waste, educating hotels on food banking opportunities, developing relationships between hotels and local food banks and establishing systems for donating safe and nutritious food. The partnerships will leverage key learnings from the pilot locations to expand into markets where Feeding America and Global FoodBanking Network have operations and to develop tools and resources that enable Hilton Worldwide’s more than 3,900 properties across 90 countries to connect with food donation opportunities locally.

“The partnership with Hilton Worldwide shows how fighting hunger is a collaborative effort and not something we can solve alone,” said Matt Knott, interim president and chief executive officer of Feeding America, the nation’s leading anti-hunger organization. “We have to continue to find innovative ways to make sure that people have enough food to nourish them.”

Jeffrey D. Klein, president and chief executive officer of The Global FoodBanking Network, said, “Our work with Hilton Worldwide takes a proactive approach to solving hunger and reducing food waste that produces greenhouse gas and contributes to global warming.  The Global FoodBanking Network is excited to help Hilton Worldwide deepen its commitment to community through this innovative collaboration.”

Hilton Worldwide will also work with Feeding America and The Global FoodBanking Network to provide volunteer opportunities with local food bank partners through its Global Team Member Volunteer Program, and will track food donations through LightStay™, its proprietary sustainability measurement system. These donations will further contribute to Hilton Worldwide’s goal of reducing waste output and complement its partnerships with the Global Soap Project to recycle and donate hotel soap to vulnerable populations and Good360 to donate reusable goods to charitable organizations. Since 2008, the properties in the company’s portfolio have reduced waster by 23.3 percent.  

Hilton Worldwide’s partnerships with Feeding America and The Global FoodBanking Network align with the company’s efforts to Travel with Purpose and provide shared value to its business and communities around the world. Together with its corporate global partners, Hilton Worldwide focus on: creating opportunities for individuals to reach their full potential; strengthening communities where it operates; celebrating cultures and the power of travel; and living sustainably through the measurement, analysis and improvement of its use of natural resources.

About Feeding America
Feeding America provides low-income individuals and families with the fuel to survive and even thrive. As the nation's leading domestic hunger-relief charity, our network members supply food to more than 37 million Americans each year, including 14 million children and 3 million seniors. Serving the entire United States, more than 200 member food banks support 61,000 agencies that address hunger in all of its forms. For more information on how you can fight hunger in your community and across the country, visit http://www.feedingamerica.org.

About The Global FoodBanking Network
The Global FoodBanking Network (GFN) is the only not-for-profit organization committed to creating, supplying and strengthening food banks and food bank networks throughout the world.  GFN currently supports food bank operations in 24 countries – representing more than one-third of the world’s hungry – and is working to establish food banks in six additional countries in the next year. One way GFN works to achieve its mission of alleviating global hunger is to create efficient and sustainable processes that provide environmentally friendly alternatives to surplus food product disposal. This keeps perfectly edible food out of landfills and makes it available for distribution to hungry people. Additional information about GFN’s activities can be found at www.foodbanking.org.

About Hilton Worldwide
Hilton Worldwide is a leading global hospitality company, spanning the lodging sector from luxurious full-service hotels and resorts to extended-stay suites and mid-priced hotels. For 93 years, Hilton Worldwide has offered business and leisure travelers the finest in accommodations, service, amenities and value. The company is dedicated to continuing its tradition of providing exceptional guest experiences across its global brands. Its brands are comprised of more than 3,900 hotels and timeshare properties, with 640,000 rooms in 90 countries and territories and include Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, Hampton Hotels, Homewood Suites by Hilton, Home2 Suites by Hilton and Hilton Grand Vacations. The company also manages the world-class guest reward program Hilton HHonors®. Visit www.hiltonworldwide.com for more information and connect with Hilton Worldwide at www.facebook.com/hiltonworldwide, www.twitter.com/hiltonworldwide, www.youtube.com/hiltonworldwide, www.flickr.com/hiltonworldwide and www.linkedin.com/company/hilton-worldwide.

About LightStay™
LightStay™ is a proprietary system developed to calculate and analyze sustainability performance. LightStay measures multiple utility and operational metrics such as (but not limited to) energy, water, carbon, housekeeping, paper product usage, waste, chemical storage, air quality and transportation. In addition, LightStay provides social networking tools that allow properties to communicate and share information, and features a "meeting impact calculator" element that calculates the sustainability impact of any meeting or conference held at a property.