Recording artist and American Idol alum Danny Gokey and volunteers from
UnitedHealthcare today will staff a Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle
Tennessee Mobile Pantry.
The volunteer project follows UnitedHealthcare’s recent $100,000
donation to Second Harvest that will help bring food to more than 10,000
hungry children, families and seniors by funding 40 Mobile Pantry
deliveries throughout middle Tennessee. The event will take place at
Sophia’s Heart Compassion Nashville, the nonprofit Gokey founded in 2008
in honor of his late wife, Sophia.
“Our mission at Sophia’s Heart is to provide hope and help to children
and families who have been touched by poverty, sickness, broken homes
and broken hearts,” said Gokey. “By working with UnitedHealthcare to
fight hunger in middle Tennessee, we’re addressing an issue many
residents of Sophia’s Hope are all too familiar with.”
Mobile Pantries deliver food directly to individuals and families in
need during large-scale, one-day food distributions. Second Harvest
works directly with partner agencies throughout its 46-county service
area and partners with organizations like UnitedHealthcare to provide
these distributions.
On average, each Mobile Pantry will supply 15,000 pounds of fresh fruits
and vegetables as well as nonperishable products, providing 250 families
with groceries for a week or more. This program, often used by smaller
partner agencies, such as a food pantry that does not have a lot of
storage space, is one of the most effective ways for Second Harvest to
provide food assistance to people at risk of hunger in rural communities.
“The demand for our services continues to increase, which makes our
vision of ending hunger more important than ever,” said Jaynee Day,
president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee. “With
the generous support from UnitedHealthcare, we are able to continue our
work to solve the threat of hunger in middle Tennessee.”
Since 2012, UnitedHealthcare has donated $300,000 to Second Harvest Food
Bank of Middle Tennessee, which has enabled the nonprofit to fight
hunger by distributing 1 million meals to children, families and
individuals in the region.
“UnitedHealthcare is grateful for the opportunity to partner with Second
Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee to help ensure Tennesseans have
access to fresh, nutritious food,” said Scott A. Bowers, CEO,
UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Tennessee. “We want to do all we can
to help build healthier communities and eradicate hunger in middle
Tennessee.”
This project is the latest in UnitedHealthcare’s “Do Good. Live Well.”
employee volunteer initiative, whose mission is to prevent hunger and
obesity, inspire service and encourage volunteerism in communities where
UnitedHealthcare employees live and work. For more information about the
benefits of volunteering and to find local opportunities to get
involved, visit www.DoGoodLiveWell.org.
Follow @DoGoodLiveWell on Twitter or “like” Do Good. Live Well. on
Facebook.
About Danny Gokey
A top 3 finalist on the eighth smash
season of Fox’s American Idol, Danny Gokey soon entered the
record books as the first-ever male American Idol contestant to
sign with a major country label. An acclaimed singer and author, Gokey
made an indelible first impression with 2010’s record-breaking debut
album, “MY BEST DAYS” with a top 4 entrance on Billboard’s
“Top 100 Albums” chart – the best opening week for a debut album from a
male country artist in almost two decades. He received an array of
honors, including his home state’s WAMI (Wisconsin Area Music Industry)
Award for “Male Vocalist of the Year” as well as an American Country
Awards nomination as “New/Breakthrough Artist of the Year.” Gokey is
also active on an array of other fronts, including his role as founder
of Sophia’s Heart. Named in honor of his late wife, the organization’s
goals are to provide hope and help to homeless families, provide
scholarships to deserving students, and operate a thriving inner-city
music and arts program. Opened in late 2011, the 77,000 square foot
Sophia’s Heart facility in Nashville has helped rescue over 60 families
from life on the street. For details, please see www.sophiasheart.org.
About Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee
Organized
in 1978, Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee is a private,
not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization. Second Harvest’s mission is to
feed hungry people and work to solve hunger issues in our community.
Second Harvest distributes food and other products to approximately 450
nonprofit partner agencies in 46 counties in middle and west Tennessee.
Our partners include food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, childcare
facilities, senior centers, group homes and youth enrichment programs.
For more information on Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee and
its programs, please visit secondharvestmidtn.org.
About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to
helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health
care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and
sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers
the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers
and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with
more than 800,000 physicians and care professionals, and 6,000 hospitals
and other care facilities nationwide. Globally, UnitedHealthcare serves
more than 45 million people in health benefits and is one of the
businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50
health and well-being company.
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Copyright Business Wire 2014