On May 23, 14 EDPR NA volunteers from the Houston office helped sort 4,404 pounds of food at the Houston Food Bank for the city's less fortunate. 

The volunteers saved the Food Bank $1,824 by volunteering their time.

Food usually comes from various sources in the food industry (such as grocery stores and wholesalers) that have thousands of pounds of food to give away - food that would otherwise be thrown away.  At the Houston Food Bank Keegan Kitchen, staff and volunteers sort, pack, and re-distribute the food to the community.  Each year, 900,000 people are fed.

 After nearly three hours of working together, EDPR employees prepared 3,670 meals for deserving Houstonians.

 About the Houston Food Bank

Now operating from a new, 308,000 square-foot facility, the Houston Food Bank is the nation's largest size Feeding America food bank and source of food for hunger relief charities in 18 southeast Texas counties.  They have been named one of 10 Top-Notch Charities across the nation by Charity Navigator.  A network of 500 food pantries, soup kitchen, senior centers and other agencies, feeding a total of 137,000 people each week, provides 50 million nutritious meals annually.  Fresh produce, meat and nonperishables are distributed from the new warehouse at 535 Portwall, and hot meals are prepared and distributed from Keegan Center, a 15,000 square-foot industrial kitchen.  Additional community services range from nutrition education to assistance with food stamp applications and hands-on job training.  Red Barrels offer a convenient way for grocery shoppers to donate nonperishables for their neighbors in need.

 The Houston Food Bank, founded in 1982, is a certified member of Feeding America, the nation's food bank network.  The organization plans to grow to an annual distribution of 100 million nutritious meals by 2018.  Visit HoustonFoodBank.org for more information.