Miami Dolphins & UnitedHealthcare Sack Hunger for Feeding South Florida
Miami Dolphins and UnitedHealthcare Sack Hunger in South Florida
- Defensive tackle Randy Starks and UnitedHealthcare employee volunteers staff a Feeding South Florida Mobile Food Pantry in Lauderhill
- Project is part of the Sack Hunger partnership
LAUDERHILL, Fla. (Feb. 3, 2015) – Miami Dolphins defensive tackle Randy Starks and some of his teammates, and employee volunteers from UnitedHealthcare are staffing a Feeding South Florida Mobile Food Pantry. The project is the culmination of the Sack Hunger campaign, in which UnitedHealthcare donated 60,000 meals to Feeding South Florida for the 39 sacks by Starks and the rest of the Dolphins defense during the 2014 season.
The mobile food pantry is being held at Faith Center Ministries, a partner agency of Feeding South Florida. It is expected to feed 350 families.
“I am excited to work with UnitedHealthcare as part of the second annual Sack Hunger campaign,” said Starks. “My teammates and I have volunteered with Feeding South Florida in the past and have seen how important its services are.”
Feeding South Florida’s Mobile Food Pantry program gives individuals and families access to fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy and breads that are vital to maintaining a proper diet. The mobile pantry enables Feeding South Florida to bring fresh produce into areas deemed ‘food deserts.’ A food desert is an area where a majority of the residents have limited access to large retail stores with fresh food and grocery products.
“We have seen an increase in the number of working families, children and older adults in need of food assistance, so this donation enables us to provide food items and fresh produce to South Floridians struggling to put food on the table,” said Paco Velez, president and CEO, Feeding South Florida.
“Access to fresh, nutritious food is an important part of people’s health and well-being. We are grateful for the opportunity to work with Randy Starks and the Miami Dolphins to help build healthier communities in South Florida,” said Nicholas Zaffiris, CEO, UnitedHealthcare of South Florida.
his project is the latest in UnitedHealthcare’s “Do Good. Live Well.” program, an employee-volunteer initiative aimed at preventing hunger and obesity, inspire service and encourage volunteerism. 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 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 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, military service members, retirees and their families, 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. For more information, visit UnitedHealthcare at www.uhc.com or follow @myUHC on Twitter.
