BOW, NH – Inspired to take action to provide families with kid-friendly protein, a number of businesses have stepped up to support the Ford Focus on Child Hunger Peanut Butter Drive, which runs through Friday, August 2. The New Hampshire Food Bank and Ford Motor Company Fund launched New Hampshire’s second peanut butter drive on June 24 at Grappone Ford in Bow. Supporters have already filled the truck bed of a Ford F-150 pickup truck with peanut butter and nut-free alternatives at Grappone Ford alone. Seeing the impact the Peanut Butter Drive is having, the Dead River Company, SunButter and Monadnock Ford have all recently signed on to support this food drive.
Dead River Company, a propane supplier with locations across New Hampshire, is collecting peanut butter at its Manchester, Bristol, Plymouth and New London offices. In addition, SunButter, which is based in North Dakota, learned of the Peanut Butter Drive through social media and pledged to provide 239 cases of SunButter to the New Hampshire Food Bank, a program of Catholic Charities New Hampshire.
Monadnock Ford, seeing the impact its fellow Ford dealers were making, stepped up to collect peanut butter at its dealership in Swanzey. Monadnock Ford is also donating $10 to the drive for every new vehicle sold during the month of July. Monadnock Ford joined Grappone Ford, Hampton Ford, McFarland Ford in Exeter, and Autofair Ford in Manchester, in collecting peanut butter with the goal of filling a Ford F-150 pickup truck with peanut butter as many times as possible.
“We could not be more pleased and gratified by this outpouring of support from the business community,” said Eileen Liponis, executive director, New Hampshire Food Bank. “This Ford Focus on Child Hunger Peanut Butter Drive makes an extraordinary impact here in New Hampshire, where one in nine residents are food insecure, meaning they do not know where their next meal is coming from. We’re in the final stretch for this drive and we continue to encourage the public and businesses to take part in this meaningful effort.”
Many families across New Hampshire rely on free and reduced school meals, but that option is not available in summer. The Ford Focus on Child Hunger Peanut Butter Drive aims to fill that gap by providing kid-friendly peanut butter to those in need.
The New Hampshire Food Bank and Ford Fund are also encouraging people to donate online. Peanut butter substitutes, including almond butter or sunflower seed butter, are also accepted as part of the drive.
About Ford Motor Company Fund
As the philanthropic arm of Ford Motor Company, Ford Fund’s mission is to strengthen communities and help make people’s lives better. Working with dealers and nonprofit partners in more than 60 countries, Ford Fund provides access to opportunities and resources that help people reach their full potential. Since 1949, Ford Fund has invested more than $2 billion in programs that support education, promote safe driving, enrich community life and encourage employee volunteering. For more information, visit www.fordfund.org or join us at @FordFund on Facebook and Twitter.
About the New Hampshire Food Bank
The New Hampshire Food Bank, a program of Catholic Charities New Hampshire, has been working to relieve hunger in the Granite State since 1984. The New Hampshire Food Bank receives no federal or state funding for food distribution. In 2018, as the state’s only Food Bank, the New Hampshire Food Bank efficiently procured and distributed more than 14.1 million pounds of food to people in need through more than 425 non-profit registered agencies. Agencies include food pantries, neighborhood centers, low-income housing sites, senior nutrition centers, family crisis centers, hospices, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after school programs, and daycare centers. For more information about the New Hampshire Food Bank, please visit www.nhfoodbank.org. Find us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
