The Backpack Program provides hungry children with nutritious and easy-to-prepare food to take home on weekends and school vacations when other resources are not available.

“Thanks to the generous support of The Dunkin’ Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Community Foundation, Feeding South Florida is able to ensure that children have access to food over the weekend through our Backpack program,” said Sari M. Vastke, Vice President of Community Relations, Feeding South Florida. “Through their support we are able to provide six meals per week to more than 1,800 children throughout South Florida.”

Beginning this summer, grant funds will be used to help sustain the Backpack Program for 45 weeks.

“We’re so excited to continue into the second year of commitment to support Feeding America’s child-hunger efforts with the largest donation in DDBRCF history,” said Kristi Strickland, Southeast Chapter Co-Chair of The Dunkin’ Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Community Foundation. “Dunkin’ Brands and its franchisees incorporate serving those in need in our communities across the country into every part of our business. Supporting the fight against hunger and particularly childhood hunger has been rewarding work.”

The $1,000,000 grant, the largest donation in DDBRCF history, will be distributed among Feeding America member food banks across the United States over the next three years.  Last year, fifteen Feeding America member food banks each received $20,000grants.  The DDBRCF has partnered with Feeding America at the national level since 2007 and, in addition to the most recent grant, has donated more than $1,000,000 over the past eight years to support Feeding America and its local food banks. Additionally, over the past eight years, The DDBRCF has addressed the issue of hunger relief through both national and local effort. Dunkin’ Donuts and Baskin-Robbins franchisees have held fundraisers to support local food banks, led food drives in the communities they serve and organized volunteer days at their local food banks to help fill backpacks with nutritious meals for children.

About Feeding South Florida:
Feeding South Florida’s mission is to end hunger in South Florida by providing immediate access to nutritious food, leading hunger and poverty advocacy efforts, and transforming lives through innovative programming and education. Through a local network of approximately 325 nonprofit partner agencies, Feeding South Florida strives to serve 871,920 individuals in need, including 287,650 children, older adults and the working poor, in Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe Counties. As a member of Feeding America, the nation’s leading hunger relief charity with 202 food banks in the network, Feeding South Florida is the sole Feeding America food bank in South Florida, and the largest in the state, distributing nearly 40 million pounds of food annually. For more information on how you can get involved with Feeding South Florida, visit www.feedingsouthflorida.org, call 954.518.1818 or follow Feeding South Florida on Facebook at facebook.com/FeedingSFL and Twitter at twitter.com/FeedingSFL.

About The Dunkin’ Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Community Foundation: The mission of The Dunkin’ Donuts & Baskin-Robbins Community Foundation is to serve its neighborhoods by taking care of their basic needs: hunger, children’s health and safety. The DDBRCF brings together a wide network of stakeholders, including franchisees, crew members and employees to serve their local communities. Launched in 2006, The DDBRCF has granted more than $8,000,000 to local charities.