SALISBURY, Md. — Perdue Farms and the Maryland Food Bank (MFB) unveiled a new state-of-the-art Mobile Market today to support the food bank’s efforts to distribute fresh, wholesome food on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, where roughly 42,000 individuals are food insecure. The Mobile Market was funded through a $250,000 gift from the Perdue family and a $100,000 grant from the Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation in celebration of the company’s 100th anniversary.
The 26-foot Mobile Market will serve as an “on-the-go” supermarket, traveling to communities in eight Eastern Shore counties — Caroline, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne’s, Somerset, Talbot, Wicomico and Worcester — that lack brick-and-mortar food assistance facilities and distributing food to residents in need. Additionally, the Mobile Market will partner with different agencies to provide access to specialized services, including health-related screenings and case management support, that will help put food-insecure Marylanders on the road toward self-sufficiency.
“Perdue Farms has been an incredible partner to the Maryland Food Bank for many years, and we are honored to help kick off their year-long Centennial celebration with the unveiling of our new Mobile Market,” said Carmen Del Guercio, MFB president and CEO. “Because of their generous gifts, we will be able to get healthy food into the hands of Eastern Shore residents we haven’t reached before, while making resources available to help them overcome the root cause of food insecurity. This is the type of innovative solution that we believe will really make a meaningful impact on our efforts to end hunger for more Marylanders.”
The Perdue gifts align with the company’s “Delivering Hope To Our Neighbors” hunger relief initiative focused on providing access to nutritious protein for people struggling with hunger and making meaningful progress toward ending hunger. In January, the Perdue Foundation announced a $1 million donation to support 10 of its Feeding America-affiliated food bank partners in celebration of the company’s Centennial. The Mobile Market unveiling is the first event on Perdue’s 10-stop tour to celebrate the Foundation gifts and its partnerships with food banks nationwide.
“At Perdue, we believe no one should go hungry in a country as rich in resources like ours,” said Kim Nechay, executive director of the Perdue Foundation. “We want to do all we can to assure that our neighbors in need have access to fresh and nutritious foods. That’s why this Mobile Market is such a blessing and why we are so proud to invest in it. This new resource provides that access by taking the Maryland Food Bank right into the areas and neighborhoods where there are real needs and where the residents don’t often have the ability to get to programs that can help them in this way.”
As Perdue Farms’ Chairman Jim Perdue explains, “To celebrate Perdue’s 100th anniversary, the Foundation and the Perdue Family looked for ways to make a real difference in the communities that the company calls home. The Foundation decided to invest in fighting hunger and highlighting our company’s desire to address food insecurity across the country. The Maryland Food Bank’s Mobile Market is a wonderful example of a program that can make a real difference right here where the company started in Salisbury and for our Eastern Shore neighbors. We are honored to have been able to help make this happen.”
About the Maryland Food Bank
The Maryland Food Bank is a nonprofit hunger-relief organization dedicated to feeding people, strengthening communities, and ending hunger for more Marylanders by partnering with local organizations from the western mountains to the Eastern Shore. The food bank’s statewide network of food assistance brings enough resources together to provide the equivalent of 110,000 meals every day (over 40 million meals annually) to hungry children, seniors, veterans, and hard-working families, meeting the immediate needs of hungry Marylanders while simultaneously working to create pathways out of hunger. To learn more about the Maryland Food Bank, visit www.mdfoodbank.org.
About the Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation
The Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Perdue Farms, was established in 1957 by company founder Arthur W. Perdue and is funded through the estates of Arthur W. Perdue and Frank Perdue. As part of our belief in supporting the communities where and with whom we do business, the Foundation provides grants on behalf of Perdue Farms in communities where large numbers of our associates live and work. At Perdue Farms, we believe in responsible food and agriculture®.
About Perdue Farms
We’re a fourth-generation, family owned, U.S. food and agriculture company. Through our belief in responsible food and agriculture, we are empowering consumers, customers and farmers through trusted choices in products and services.
The PERDUE® brand is the number-one brand of fresh chicken in the U.S., and the company is the leader in organic chicken in the U.S., and Perdue AgriBusiness is an international agricultural products and services company. Now in our centennial year, our path forward is about getting better, not just bigger. We never use drugs for growth promotion in raising poultry and livestock, and we are actively advancing our animal welfare programs. Our brands are leaders in no-antibiotics-ever chicken, turkey and pork, and in USDA-certified organic chicken. Learn more at corporate.perduefarms.com.
