AmpleHarvest.org Receives $50,000 Grant from Newman's Own Foundation

Newfoundland, NJ, October 25, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Today, AmpleHarvest.org received a $50,000 grant from Newman’s Own Foundation, the independent foundation created by the late actor and philanthropist, Paul Newman.

The award to AmpleHarvest.org was made by Newman’s Own Foundation as part of its nutrition focused funding initiative. Through this initiative, the Foundation is donating a total of nearly $4 million to 40 organizations over two years with the aim of supporting new approaches and expanding model programs. This commitment is in addition to $1 million Newman’s Own Foundation already granted to organizations with nutrition programs earlier this year.

AmpleHarvest.org is a one of a kind nationwide hunger/nutrition initiative that uses the Internet to solve hunger and malnutrition by enabling millions of home and community gardeners nationwide to donate their excess garden produce to a nearby food pantry. The American food bank network which very efficiently handles processed food for the nearly 1 in 6 Americans who receive help from a neighborhood food pantry, cannot however handle locally sourced fresh food due to the design of the system. This dilemma has been solved by AmpleHarvest.org’s “virtual solution to hunger” which connects the dots between this excess supply of food and the food pantries in the community desperate for it.

“We are delighted to receive the support of Newman’s Own Foundation,” according to AmpleHarvest.org founder and executive director Gary Oppenheimer. “This grant will help AmpleHarvest.org expand the registry of food pantries nationwide as well as reach more growers who have excess food in their garden – food that will ultimately end up in the homes of millions of Americans who rely on a local food pantry to help feed the family.”

Today, 5,500 food pantries across all 50 states are registered on AmpleHarvest.org with more signing up daily. This free registry also enables people in the community to donate store bought food thanks to the free Android and iPhone “AmpleHarvest” apps.

Newman’s Own Foundation is concentrating its efforts on: nutrition education for children and families; child nutrition with a focus on feeding hungry children and/or reducing childhood obesity; and fresh food access for underserved communities.

“It’s exciting for us to see such creative thinking and solution-based approaches to the challenges around nutrition issues,” said Lisa Walker, Managing Director of Newman’s Own Foundation. “This funding initiative is intended to further the innovative work that our grantees are already doing on the ground to help increase access to, and awareness of, nutritious food.”

AmpleHarvest.org, Inc. is a not-for-profit 501c3 organization which works to diminish hunger in America by educating, encouraging and empowering growers to easily find a local food bank eager to receive the excess garden bounty. For more information on the campaign, visit www.AmpleHarvest.org/press or call AMPLE-6-9880 (267-536-9880).

Paul Newman established the Foundation in 2005, as a means of continuing his pledge to donate to charity all net profits and royalties from the sale of products from Newman’s Own, Inc. Since the food company’s founding in 1982, Newman and Newman’s Own Foundation have donated more than $350 million to thousands of charities worldwide.

Follow AmpleHarvest.org at twitter.com/AmpleHarvest and at Facebook.com/AmpleHarvest.org.