The Moline Foundation, and the Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation Announce $30,000 Gift to River Bend Foodbank To Assist in Fight Against Local Hunger
A news conference held this morning, Wednesday, January 5, 2011, at the River Bend Foodbank, 309 12th Street, Moline, Illinois announced a major funding gift of $30,0000 from a local community foundation, the Moline Foundation and a statewide foundation, the Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation, Oak Brook, Illinois.
The gift is the result of a challenge grant campaign held in the Quad Cities the last few weeks and conducted by the Moline Foundation. Donors in the Quad Cities contributed $15,000 in just four days to benefit the River Bend Foodbank and its hunger relief programs, including the Backpack Feeding Program. The Backpack Program strives to ensure that children don't go hungry over the weekend when are no school meals for them to rely upon. The program serves approximately 1,200 children in the Quad Cities. Every Friday, during the school year, children participating in the Backpack Program receive free, nutritious food distributed at their school which they can then take home in their backpacks and easily prepare at home.
"This is an especially critical time in our community as food supplies are low during the cold winter. We are grateful to our donors and the opportunity to receive such a large matching grant to give to River Bend Foodbank," said Jon Tunberg, Chairman of The Moline Foundation.
The Moline Foundation and other community foundations in Illinois were challenged to raise funds in Springfield, Champaign, Chicago, St. Charles, Peoria, and East St. Louis. Over 1.5 million people in Illinois now live in poverty. Of this number, approximately 500,000 are children. This statewide funding initiative will be used to provide nutritious meals for Illinois children through after school programs, weekend back pack feeding programs, and mobile distribution programs.
River Bend Foodbank is the largest hunger relief organization in the Quad Cities and surrounding communities, distributing 6.3 million pounds of food annually to more than 300 charitable feeding programs throughout a 22 county service area in Eastern Iowa and Western Illinois. More than 10,000 people receive food assistance each week through River Bend's distribution network. The Foodbank also operates four Kids Café sites serving over 45,000 free meals to children each year, the Backpack Program which provides over 1300 Quad City children with nourishing food to take home on the weekends during the school year and the Mobile Food Pantry which directly feeds thousands of families.
As a Community Foundation, The Moline Foundation offers a range of charitable funds, allowing donors to advance a cause such as education or the environment, support an individual organization, provide flexible support for community needs or recommend individual grants. The Moline Foundation, founded in 1953, is a Community Foundation which provides funding to health, human services, education, community, workforce and economic development, the arts and other charitable organizations which benefit the citizens of Scott County, Iowa and Rock Island, Henry, Mercer, Warren, McDonough and Henderson counties in western Illinois. The Moline Foundation receives and administers charitable gifts; has a current endowment of approximately $15 million; and handles additional funds to benefit donor wishes. The Moline Foundation also serves as a catalyst and convener to bring about solutions to problems affecting quality of life in our region.
Illinois Children's Healthcare Foundation is the only statewide private foundation focused on improving the health of all children in the State of Illinois. It was created in December 2002 through an action between the State of Illinois Attorney General's office and a private insurance carrier. This action established the Foundation which was funded with an investment of approximately $125 million.
###
