Arizona Diamondbacks Nick Ahmed and Chase Anderson, and UnitedHealthcare "Pack the House" to Fight Hunger
April 29 2015 - 12:00PM
Business Wire
- Starting shortstop and pitcher, D-backs
staff and UnitedHealthcare employee volunteers pack Bags of Hope to
support Kitchen on the Street’s childhood hunger program
- First in a series of three volunteer
projects that will provide 49,000 meals – one for each seat at
Chase Field
Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed, pitcher Chase
Anderson, D-backs staff and UnitedHealthcare employees today are
kicking off their joint “Pack the House” initiative, which will
provide 49,000 meals for children in need – one meal for each seat
at Chase Field. Volunteers will pack food to support Kitchen on the
Street’s Bags of Hope program, which is aimed at fighting childhood
hunger.
Thousands of children receive reduced-price meals during the
school week but do not get enough nourishment over the weekend.
Bags of Hope provides nutritious, kid-friendly food, which includes
fruit snacks, pretzels and fruit cups. The bags are given to
underserved children who do not have access to school lunch
programs during the weekend.
This is the first in a series of three volunteer projects
planned to meet the goal of packing 49,000 meals. Other volunteer
projects are planned for May 20 and Aug. 26. UnitedHealthcare, the
D-backs and Kitchen on the Street partnered to “Pack the House”
last year.
“We’re grateful for the opportunity to partner with the Arizona
Diamondbacks and Kitchen on the Street to ensure Phoenix-area
children have access to nutritious food,” said Joe Gaudio, CEO,
UnitedHealthcare Community Plan of Arizona.
According to the Trust for America’s Health, nearly one in five
children in Arizona ages 10 to 17 are considered obese. There is a
direct correlation between obesity and hunger due to the limited
availability of healthy food options. Households with limited
resources often try to stretch their food budgets by purchasing
inexpensive, energy-dense and filling foods.
“The D-backs are committed to helping solve hunger issues in the
Valley,” said D-backs President and CEO Derrick Hall. “One way that
we plan to help fight childhood hunger is by teaming up once again
with past Grand Slam Award recipient Kitchen on the Street and
UnitedHealthcare to Pack the House and provide more than 49,000
meals.”
This project is the latest in UnitedHealthcare’s “Do Good. Live
Well.” program, an employee-volunteer initiative aimed at
preventing hunger and obesity, inspiring service and encouraging
volunteerism. The D-backs and Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation have
surpassed $41 million in combined donations since their inception
in 1998, and this season the D-backs have already raised $1.6
million at Evening on the Diamond earlier this year.
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 Kitchen on the StreetKitchen on the Street began
serving the community in 2007 when the Scarpinato family learned
about the prevalence of food insecurity in local Arizona children.
Hearing that thousands of children that received breakfast and
lunch at school but were going hungry on weekends compelled Vince,
Lisa and Taylor Scarpinato to found Kitchen on the Street as a
means of bringing food and hope to children in need. In 2007
Kitchen on the Street was limited to one program to serve the
hungry children of Phoenix, a food backpack program providing shelf
stable meals and snacks to food insecure children. As a volunteer
driven faith based non-profit organization, KOS relies on the
community to meet the needs of the hungry and hurting. Thanks to
the generosity of individuals, business owners and corporations in
providing faithful volunteers and provisional funding, various
programs are available throughout Arizona and in 2011 the Bags of
Hope program began in San Antonio, Texas.
About UnitedHealthcareUnitedHealthcare 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, military service members, retirees and
their families, and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and
contracts directly with more than 850,000 physicians and care
professionals, and 6,000 hospitals and other care facilities
nationwide. UnitedHealthcare is one of the businesses of
UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and
well-being company. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at
www.uhc.com or follow @myUHC on Twitter.
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Group.
UnitedHealthcareCourtney Johnson,
612-702-7703Courtney_T_Johnson@uhc.com
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