I admonished U.S. companies back in October after noting that Purolator — a Canadian delivery company — was trying to do something about hunger in the Great White North.
We are in an unbelievable financial situation in this country — food pantries are doing an all-time business. And even more amazed at the corporate response in this country. Now we might start seeing a bit of a turn, in of all things, a college football game.
True, Purolator used the football theme to draw attention to hunger problems in Canada, sponsoring the CFL. Now, we have the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl.
The Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl will be on January 9, 2011 at AT&T Park in San Francisco: #15 ranked Nevada will take on Boston College on ESPN. As bowl game names change all the time, we should point out that if you watched the the Emerald Bowl or under its previous name, the Diamond Walnut San Francisco Bowl. this is that bowl.
Nuts do fight hunger. And having been at that ballpark in April, the food is amazing, especially the crab sandwich on sourdough and the garlic fries.
Levity aside, kudos to Kraft for not just sponsoring a bowl game, but getting in "fight hunger" as part of the bowl name. The bowl game is well-past any of the top bowls on the schedule, but a national ESPN audience and an exciting game in a cool ballpark and surrounding area will help spread the word.
The bowl is donating one meal for every ticket sold to three San Francisco area social services agencies, projecting to 42,000 meals with a sellout per agency. Kraft is trying to get people to donate up to 20 million meals ($1 donation = 7 meals) to Feeding America by using social media. Details can be found at huddletofighthunger.com.
As Kraft notes in its release, 27% more Americans struggling with hunger now, than 4 years ago.
One college football game, and a related campaign won't solve the problem completely. But marketing and publicity bring needed attention to a cause that is still important, even if it doesn't get as much news coverage as it should. After all, some people think the recession is over; in many households and stomachs though, they still feel the effects of the financial downturn.
You certainly don't have to participate in this particular program; you can search out local options if that is your presence. But you have to tip your hat to a corporation that is willing to stand up and promote the need to fight hunger in the United States.
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