Guelph, Ontario, Canada
December 21, 2015
• 2015 marks 15th anniversary of partnership
• More than $650,000 contributed as founding sponsor of Rural Support Program
A holiday season contribution of $10,000 by Syngenta Canada to Food Banks Canada, to help those in need in rural communities, brings total support by the company to the Rural Support Program to more than $650,000 over the last 15 years.
“Our partnership with Food Banks Canada was the flagship initiative of our Giving Back to Agriculture® program, which has since grown to provide support for nearly 200 organizations in communities across Canada,” explains Syngenta Canada President Jay Bradshaw. “Hunger and nutrition-related initiatives remain a key pillar of our program and are inextricably linked to our efforts to improve food security.”
Syngenta is the founding sponsor of the Rural Support Program and has been funding transportation grants to help rural food bank locations improve their access to food donations since 2000. The program, originally known as the Syngenta Rural FoodShare Initiative, was renamed in 2011 to reflect an expanded mandate.
In 2015, 47 grants were awarded to food banks in seven provinces through the Rural Support Program’s Rural Transportation Fund. Through these grants, 26,000 people experiencing hunger in rural communities across Canada were helped.
Currently, 35% of all Canadian food bank locations are in rural communities and often face unique challenges due to isolation and other factors. Grants through the Rural Transportation Fund are aimed specifically at helping to address the higher transportation costs associated with getting food donations to these communities in need.
“The Rural Transportation Fund ensures that food banks are able to bring a diversity of food into their communities for people who are experiencing hunger,” says Katharine Schmidt, Executive Director, Food Banks Canada. “This fund continues to be an essential support Food Banks Canada offers to rural, agricultural, and remote food banks across Canada and we are very appreciative of the long-term commitment to and support from Syngenta to this important area of our activities.”
The 2015 HungerCount report from Food Banks Canada indicated that rural-based food banks provided food to more than 152,000 people in the month of March alone, and more than half of rural food bank locations reported an increasing need for their services.
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