Panera Bread/Howley Bread Group Organizes Successful "Living Consciously Volunteer Day" To Kick-Off Feeding America Partnership And Celebrate National Hunger Action Month

EAST GREENWICH, RI, October 17, 2013 — To kick-off Panera Bread’s partnership with Feeding America and celebrate September’s “Hunger Action Month”, more than 50 associates and operations support staff from seven Panera Bread bakery-cafes in Rhode Island (Cranston, East Greenwich, Newport, Providence, Smithfield, Wakefield and Warwick), as well as some associates from their nearby bakery-cafes in Massachusetts, recently participated in a “Living Consciously Volunteer Day” at the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.  The seven Panera Bread bakery-cafes in Rhode Island are owned and operated by Panera Bread franchisee, Howley Bread Group, LTD based in Cumberland, Rhode Island.

The Rhode Island Community Food Bank, a Feeding America® member food bank, is the recipient of all the funds collected through the ongoing Panera Cares Community Breadbox™ Program at the seven bakery-cafes in Rhode Island.  The Program gives customers the opportunity to donate money at the counter to support the Food Bank’s efforts to provide nutritious food to Rhode Islanders in need.

To further engage Panera Bread/Howley Bread Group associates with Panera’s efforts to fight local hunger during “Hunger Action Month” and throughout the year, the Volunteer Day included an overview of the Food Bank’s operation, insight on the growing issue of hunger insecurity and a primer on how to sort, back and box food for delivery to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank’s member agencies.

“The Panera /Howley Bread Group volunteers were extremely productive, boxing 16,000 pounds of squash, sorting hygiene products and packing boxes for distribution,” said Ed Cash, Director of Warehousing and Logistics for the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.  “Having outstanding groups like Panera set some time aside to volunteer is invaluable to us as it helps keep our food production line moving.”

Panera volunteers began the day by watching a documentary at the Columbus Theatre in Providence entitled “A Place at the Table” which chronicles the problem of food insecurity in the United States.  “The movie was very powerful and set the stage for the rest of the day at the Food Bank which was extremely empowering,” said Bahjat Shariff, Vice President of Operations for Panera Bread/Howley Bread Group.  ‘Food insecurity in Rhode Island is a growing problem and companies and individual alike can ‘live consciously’ by volunteering or engaging in a host of other activities to help end hunger in the state.”  Shariff added that when Panera Bread announced its commitment to Feeding America by way of the Panera Cares Community Breadbox™ Program, he was happy to know that these dollars would go directly to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.  “It’s an organization that is totally dedicated to the cause and after spending a day learning from them and working with them, I have to tell you, its contagious.”

A USDA report on food insecurity shows that hunger in Rhode Island now affects one out of seven households.  Each month more than 68,000 Rhode Islanders seek food assistance through the Food Bank's network of emergency food programs. Nearly one of every three persons served is a child under the age of 18.  In fact, according to the most recent U.S. Census survey, 21.9% of Rhode Island's children, one out of every five are living in poverty and just under 10,000 Rhode Island seniors, 9.3% of the state’s population, live in poverty.

Feeding America secures and supplies more than 2 billion pounds of nationally donated food and grocery products annually to its network of 200 food banks across the country. The Rhode Island Community Food Bank, a member of Feeding America, is an innovative leader in solving the problem of hunger.  In partnership with its member agencies, as well as government and community leaders, it works to try and ensure that no one in Rhode Island goes hungry.  Since 1982, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank has solicited, stored and distributed surplus food and grocery products to qualified member agency programs that serve Rhode Island's hungry.  Last fiscal year, 9.7 million pounds of food were distributed to the community through its network of 238 member agency food programs across Rhode Island.

Howley Bread Group, LTD based in Cumberland, RI is one of Panera Bread’s top franchises in the country.  The franchisee owns and operates a total of twenty-six bakery-cafes in RI, Southeastern MA and Greater Hartford/Eastern CT markets.  For more information, please contact wendy.kopp@panerabread.com or visit the company’s web site at www.panerabreadhbg.com.  Also, like HBG on Facebook at /howleybreadgroup and follow the company on Twitter @panerabreadhbg to hear about upcoming new and returning menu items, community involvement and events, employment opportunities, their Panera culture and much more!