Ocean Spray, Inc., Reaches Out To Earthquake Victims
COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (Feb. 4, 2010) – Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc., North America’s leading producer of canned and bottled juice drinks, has announced that the approximately 500 employees in the corporate offices in Massachusetts will be collecting food and other essentials for Food For The Poor to distribute to Haiti’s earthquake victims.
The company has set up drop boxes at its headquarters where employees can donate cans of milk, baby formula, sardines, mackerel, sausages, meats such as SPAM and corned beef, as well as 8 to 10 person tents.
“We are providing an easy way for our employees to extend a helping hand to the Haitian people, while at the same time being sensitive to their nutritional and cultural needs,” said Sandra Jones, general manager of Ocean Spray’s Caribbean region, who is coordinating the effort. “Food For The Poor has trained professionals on the ground, in the hardest hit areas of Haiti, and the organization will ensure the goods are delivered directly to the earthquake victims.”
The canned food and tent drive began Wednesday and will continue until Friday, Feb. 19, 2010. Ocean Spray will then palletize the goods and deliver them to the charity’s South Florida headquarters, where they will be shipped to Haiti within a week.
“We thank the employees of Ocean Spray for all of their generosity and caring ways,” said Food For The Poor President/CEO Robin Mahfood. “It is unimaginable what the people in Haiti are going through right now. We are extremely grateful for this drive that will benefit so many who are struggling to survive, and remain hopeful and look toward rebuilding their homes and their country.”
Food For The Poor has been working in Haiti for more than 24 years and plans on providing humanitarian aid to the country as long as it is necessary.
About Ocean Spray Ocean Spray is an agricultural cooperative owned by more than 700 cranberry growers in Massachusetts, Wisconsin, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, and other parts of Canada as well as more than 50 Florida grapefruit growers. Ocean Spray was formed 80 years ago by three cranberry growers from Massachusetts and New Jersey. Florida grapefruit growers joined the Cooperative in 1976. Ocean Spray is North America’s leading producer of canned and bottled juices and juice drinks, and has been the best-selling brand name in the canned and bottled juice category since 1981. Ocean Spray, whose headquarters are in Lakeville-Middleborough, Massachusetts, posted fiscal 2009 sales of $2 billion.
About Food for the Poor
Food For The Poor, the largest international relief and development organization in the United States, does much more than feed millions of hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian agency provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 96 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.foodforthepoor.org.
Contact:
Aimee Vignola
Public Relations
(954) 427.2222 x 6079
