Price Chopper Feeds Children in Need

HARTFORD, Conn., Feb. 6, 2014 /3BL Media/ – Price Chopper has partnered with CBS EcoMedia Inc. to fund weekend meals for Hartford-area children through Blessings in a Backpack.

To celebrate the partnership, a special backpack stuffing event was held today at John C. Clark Elementary. Price Chopper’s financial support through EcoMedia’s WellnessAd program will feed 50 children at John C. Clark Elementary for three years. This donation along with a donation from an anonymous Hartford resident, will allow 100 children in total to be fed through the Blessings program at John C. Clark.

Blessings in a Backpack provides elementary schoolchildren who are on the federal Free and Reduced Price Meal Program with a backpack of food to take home for 38 weekends during the school year. Backpack food includes easy-to-prepare, ready-to-eat foods, like granola bars, juice boxes, mac and cheese, and oatmeal.

“Price Chopper teammates are very much aware of and concerned about hunger in our neighborhoods,” said Pam Cerrone, Manager of Community Relations, Price Chopper. “We are pleased to provide support to Regional Food Banks and local food pantries and cupboards through a variety of means, including fundraising and collections in our stores. When CBS Radio approached us to partner on their “Blessings in a Backpack” program, providing children with nutritious food for weekend meals, we gladly stepped up. We’re proud to be part of this 3-year commitment to feed children in need in Hartford.”

Price Chopper has been a family in business for over 80 years, operating 132 supermarkets in six states (NY, VT, MA, PA, CT and NH).

Price Chopper’s support through EcoMedia’s WellnessAd program is helping to solve a major issue in our country. Sadly, there are 20 million children in the United States who are at risk of hunger. Poor nutrition can result in a weaker immune system, increased hospitalization, lower IQ, shorter attention spans, and lower academic achievement. Although children are fed during the school week by federal government programs, Blessings in a Backpack ensures that they are eating nutritional meals over the weekend, too. Students who participate in the Blessings in a Backpack program show marked improvement in school attendance, test scores, behavior, and health.

“We are thrilled to be opening another Blessings in a Backpack program through our partnership with CBS EcoMedia Inc.,” said Nikki Grizzle, Director of Marketing and Public Relations, Blessings in a Backpack. “Thanks to amazing advertisers like Price Chopper & the Hartford community we are able to open our first program in Hartford, CT. & feed 100 children, over the weekend, at John C. Clark Elementary.”

 “Childhood hunger is an epidemic: 69 percent of children in the United States are on the Free and Reduced Meal Program,” said Paul Polizzotto, Founder and President, CBS EcoMedia. “We’re grateful to Price Chopper for helping to solve this problem by feeding Hartford-area children in need.”

About Blessings in a Backpack:

Blessings in a Backpack, People Magazines Charity of 2012, is a results-oriented program that is designed to feed elementary school children whose families qualify for the federally funded National School Lunch Program and have little or no food on the weekends. Better test scores, improved reading skills, positive behavior, improved health and increased attendance have all been attributed to the success of this program. Just $80 feeds one American school child in our program for an entire 38-week school year. Blessings in a Backpack is currently feeding over 63,000 children in over 580 schools across 45 U.S. states. (see all at http://blessingsinabackpack.org/About/OurPrograms.aspx).

We are Feeding the Future of America® – one school at a time

About CBS EcoMedia Inc.

At EcoMedia, we’re propelled by the desire to create positive social change; that’s been our mission since we founded the company in 2002.  In 2010, after successfully partnering with CBS on a wide range of environmental projects, EcoMedia became the newest addition to the CBS Corporation portfolio, exponentially scaling our reach across television, radio, interactive, publishing and outdoor media. 

Through our patent-pending EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd programs, an innovative twist on traditional advertising, advertisers are able to support much-needed local projects which in turn creates jobs, saves taxpayer money and improves the quality of life in communities nationwide.  In the process, we’re fundamentally altering the advertising landscape, elevating the ordinary, traditional commercial – and media, in general – into a catalyst for tangible, quantifiable social change.  Please visit ecomediacbs.com, like us at facebook.com/EcoMediaCBS or follow us at Twitter.com/EcoMediaCBS

By participating in EcoMedia’s EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd advertising programs, EcoMedia’s advertisers agree to provide funding for projects we believe will have a beneficial effect upon the environment, health and/or education within local communities.  EcoMedia’s advertising programs are not certification programs nor are the EcoAd, WellnessAd or EducationAd logos seals of approval. EcoMedia does not in any way certify, endorse or make any representations about EcoMedia program advertisers, their products or services.