Feeding America Riverside | San Bernardino (FARSB), will host a free soup-line style luncheon during Valentine’s week to highlight the need for the community to “love their neighbors” by supporting the regional food bank’s efforts. FARSB provides food and resources to more than 450 nonprofit local agency partners who share the food bank’s mission to alleviate hunger in the Inland Empire.
The annual event entitled, Ladles of Love, will feature Keynote Speaker, David Allred, Director of Management Services for C.R. England and Past Chairman of the Utah Food Bank. FARSB hopes to gather up to 300 concerned community members in the regional food bank’s 60,000 square foot warehouse in Riverside from Noon-1:00 P.M. on Tuesday, February 12th. Interested companies, community members and organizations can reserve seats and tables for this free event by registering online at https://www.feedingamericaie.org/ladles-of-love-2019 .
Allred will provide an inspiring presentation that promotes this year’s theme of “It Only Takes One Giving Heart to Warm a Hundred More” by explaining his company’s incredible mission to provide a meal to a local foodbank for every delivery a driver at CR England makes. As the U.S.’s 25th largest trucking company, the amount of support in 2018 equaled some 1.6 million meals donated to more than 200 food banks across America.
“Last year we set a goal to reach 1 million children fed, but due to the generosity of so many, we exceeded 1.6 million meals,” said Allred who hopes to inspire the other companies, organizations and individuals who will attend the free luncheon. “One creative idea or fundraising effort to support a basic safety net in all our communities, a safety net like providing food, can make a huge impact”.
Although the event is free, individuals at the event will be challenged to have a caring heart by donating $11 or more to the regional food bank. “Just eleven dollars can help us feed 100 people here in the Inland Empire,” said Stephanie Otero, CEO of FARSB. “When you think about it, we all spend about 5 times that much for a Valentine’s dinner out and aren’t always thinking of those who are less fortunate when we do.”
In the Inland Empire, more than 800,000 people struggle with food insecurity and may not know where they’ll find their next meal. That number includes one in 4 children.