The National Restaurant Association (NRA) announced that exhibiting companies at the 2011 National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show—held May 21-24 at Chicago’s McCormick Place—donated more than 37,000 meals to the Greater Chicago Food Depository (GCFD) last month.
"Being in the hospitality industry, it comes naturally to the vendors, suppliers, and manufacturers that exhibited at NRA Show 2011 to give back to the local community and help feed the hungry," says C.W. Craig Reed, convention chair for NRA Show 2011 and director of food and beverage, Broadmoor Hotel. "As the nation’s largest restaurant and foodservice industry trade show, we are honored to have such generous exhibitors that helped feed tens of thousands of individuals.”
NRA Show 2011 exhibitors donated a total of 50,013 pounds of high-quality, nutritious food products, which provided more than 37,000 meals benefiting men, women, and children in need throughout the Chicagoarea.
“We are so grateful to the National Restaurant Association for its support of the Greater Chicago Food Depository,” says Kate Maehr, executive director and CEO of the Greater Chicago Food Depository. “Because of NRA show donations, the Food Depository will be able to provide thousands of pounds of nutritious food to hungry people in CookCounty.”
The donated food was distributed through a network of more than 600 qualified GCFD member agencies, which include pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, day care centers, and senior living facilities.
The Greater Chicago Food Depository, Chicago’s food bank, is a nonprofit food distribution and training center providing food for hungry people while striving to end hunger in the community.
The Food Depository distributes donated and purchased food through a network of 650 pantries, soup kitchens, and shelters to 678,000 adults and children in CookCountyevery year. Last year, the Food Depository distributed 58 million pounds of nonperishable food and fresh produce, dairy products, and meat, the equivalent of 119,000 meals every day.
The annual National Restaurant Association Restaurant, Hotel-Motel Show is the largest and most comprehensive global gathering of restaurant, foodservice, and lodging professionals. The event attracts tens of thousands of attendees and visitors from all 50 states and more than 100 countries, and showcases more products, services, innovative ideas, and other growth opportunities than any other industry event.
