Sodexo’s Feeding Our Future® Program to Provide 400,000 Nutritious Summer Meals to Children in 24 U.S. Cities

Program to ensure children have access to nutritious meals when the school doors close enters its 15th year
Jun 22, 2011 7:00 PM ET

(3BL Media / theCSRfeed) GAITHERSBURG, Md., June 22, 2011 – As school cafeterias in America close for the summer, Sodexo’s Feeding Our Future® program, in partnership with Sodexo client accounts, vendors and hunger relief organizations across the country, today announces that it will prepare and serve 400,000 lunches this summer to children in 24 U.S. cities. 

Since Feeding Our Future’s inception in 1997, Sodexo has provided more than 2.5 million free summer lunches to hungry children in the U.S. This year the program expands to three new cities: Indianapolis, Ind., Norfolk, Va., and Syracuse, N.Y. In addition, partners in the city of Pittsburgh, Pa., which participated in 2008, will again team with Feeding Our Future to feed children in their community.  As a result, the Sodexo Foundation expects an increase of 11 percent in total meals served this summer.   “Feeding Our Future is more than a feeding program, it’s a commitment to provide an opportunity for the youth of our country to lead healthy productive lives, through proper nutrition,” said Robert A. Stern, president, the Sodexo Foundation. “However, it remains a challenge because even with the existing summer food service programs, millions of children who rely on school breakfast and lunch programs risk hunger or malnutrition once the school year ends.”    Feeding Our Future now enters its 15th year and will provide 400,000 summer lunches in 24 cities including: Atlanta, Ga., Boston, Mass., Buffalo, N.Y., Camden, N.J., Chattanooga, Tenn., Chicago, Ill., Denver, Colo., Detroit, Mich., Fort Worth, Texas, Honolulu, Hawaii, Houston, Texas, Indianapolis, Ind., Los Angeles, Calif., Miami, Fla., New York, N.Y., Norfolk, Va., Oklahoma City, Okla., Pittsburgh, Pa., San Jose, Calif., St. Cloud, Minn., St. Louis, Mo., Syracuse, N.Y., Terre Haute, Ind. and Washington, D.C.    The Feeding Our Future program is funded by the Sodexo Foundation, the anti-hunger charitable arm of Sodexo, Inc. Sodexo employees work closely with local hunger relief organizations who distribute the meals to children at feeding sites. This resourceful program donates food and labor necessary to provide summer lunches to children who would otherwise go hungry.   More than 50 million people, including 17 million children, are at risk of hunger in the United States. The Sodexo Foundation supports innovative programs to help children and families in the United States who are at-risk of hunger. To make a contribution to the fight against hunger or for more information, please visit www.sodexofoundation.org. ###     About Sodexo   Sodexo in North America Sodexo, Inc. (www.sodexoUSA.com), leading Quality of Daily Life Solutions company in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, delivers On Site Service Solutions in Corporate, Education, Health Care, Government, and Remote Site segments, as well as Motivation Solutions such as Esteem Pass. Sodexo, Inc., headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md., funds all administrative costs for the Sodexo Foundation (www.SodexoFoundation.org), an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $15 million in grants to fight hunger in America. Visit the corporate blog at www.sodexoUSA.com/blog.   Sodexo, world leader in Quality of Daily Life Solutions Quality of Life plays an important role in the progress of individuals and the performance of organizations. Based on this conviction, Sodexo acts as the strategic partner for companies and institutions that place a premium on performance and employee well-being, as it has since Pierre Bellon founded the company in 1966. Sharing the same passion for service, Sodexo’s 380,000 employees in 80 countries design, manage and deliver an unrivaled array of On Site Service Solutions and Motivation Solutions. Sodexo has created a new form of service business that contributes to the fulfillment of its employees and the economic, social and environmental development of the communities, regions and countries in which it operates.   Key Figures (as of August 31, 2010)
Sodexo in the World
15.3 billion euro consolidated revenue
380,000 employees
34,000 sites
50 million consumers served daily
80 countries
21st largest employer worldwide
 
Sodexo in North America
8.0 billion dollars revenue
120,000 employees
10 million consumers served daily
6,000 clients
700 facilities management sites 
Contact Samuel E. Wells 301 987 4893 samuel.wells@sodexo.com   SODE14790