DELRAY BEACH, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 2, 2004--
City and Community Officials Will Also Join Office Depot at
Children Summer Lunch Program in West Palm Beach
In celebration of "National Hunger Awareness Day," a public
awareness initiative celebrated on June 3, Office Depot, Inc.,
(NYSE:ODP) will begin hosting in-store food drives at its ten Palm
Beach County stores. Also on the same day, city and community
officials will join Office Depot executives to serve children lunch at
the Boys and Girls Club, a designated free lunch program site in West
Palm Beach. The county program officially began on June 1st.
"Hunger Awareness Day," now in its third year, was created by
America's Second Harvest, the nation's largest hunger-relief
organization, to raise the awareness of the burden hunger places on
millions of American families. Office Depot began a partnership with
America's Second Harvest in 2001 and is recognized as a national
"Hunger Hero"- one of only 50 companies in the U.S. with that
distinction.
Office Depot's in-store food drives kick off on June 3 and will
run through June 10. Customers are encouraged to drop off food
donations at any of Office Depot's stores in Palm Beach County. All
food donations will benefit the Daily Bread Food Bank, a non-profit
warehouse distribution center that provides food to a network of more
than 125 non-profit agencies that assist families in Palm Beach
County.
"Hunger is a growing threat among working and unemployed families
across the nation," noted Mary Wong, Director of Community Relations
for Office Depot. "The problem is more acute in the summer months when
children don't have access to school-based meals."
According to Wong, the food drive and the June 3 event are also
aimed at raising awareness to the need for volunteers at Palm Beach
County designated free lunch summer program sites and food donations
for children during the summer months.
While all donations are welcome, it is preferred that food
donations be non-perishable and packaged in unopened boxes, cans or
plastic containers.
Also on June 3, Office Depot will collect food donations from its
more than 2,600 employees at its corporate headquarters in Delray
Beach and its Boca Raton call center facility.
The Palm Beach County Summer Free Lunch program is open to any
child under 18 years old living in Palm Beach County. Parents may find
the locations of the nearest site by calling 211 or by visiting
http://summerlunchsites.211pbtc.org.
According to Sarah Karinshak, Executive Director for the Daily
Bread Food Bank for Palm Beach County, 67,000 children participated in
Palm Beach County elementary schools free or reduced cost lunch
programs in 2004 and only 22,000 children participated in last year's
Palm Beach County Free Summer Lunch programs.
"During the summer months, these children don't have access to
meals, so we are grateful to Office Depot for helping raise awareness
so families know where to learn more about the Palm Beach County Free
Summer Lunch program, while simultaneously helping to raise food
donations," said Karinshak.
City officials and community leaders will join Office Depot at the
Boys and Girls Club, a designated Palm Beach County Free Summer Lunch
program site:
West Palm Beach:
1188 Marine Drive
West Palm Beach
Directions: 95 North, take Belvedere and head west.
3 blocks past Congress Avenue, make a right and the Boys and Girls
Club will be 1/10 of a mile on the right side.
-- Eileen Solomon Silber, Education Coordinator for the City of
West Palm Beach
-- Peter Kane, Sales Manager, Chamber of Commerce of the Palm
Beaches
-- Sarah Karinshak, Executive Director for the Daily Bread Food
Bank
-- Mary Wong, Director of Community Relations, Office Depot
In addition to its representatives serving lunch to children,
Office Depot will supply bagged snacks and picture frames to each
child, and provide clowns that will entertain children at the site.
About Office Depot
With annual sales of nearly $12 billion, no one sells more office
supplies to more customers in more countries than Office Depot.
Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Delray Beach, FL, the company
conducts business in 23 countries and employs nearly 50,000 people
worldwide.
Office Depot is an industry leader in every distribution channel -
from retail stores and contract delivery to catalogs and e-commerce.
The company is the world's number two online retailer - on target to
generate $2.6B in sales for FY'03. In North America, Office Depot has
more than 900 retail stores in addition to a national
business-to-business delivery network supported by 22 delivery
centers, more than 60 local sales offices and 13 regional call
centers.
Recently, Office Depot was recognized in BusinessWeek as the
country's 11th most generous in-kind giver as a percentage of
revenues. Also, the company was one of twelve companies included in
the Companies That Care Honor Roll.
The company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbol ODP and is included in the S&P 500 Index.
Additional press information can be found at:
http://mediarelations.officedepot.com.
About the Daily Bread Food Bank
Founded in 1980, Daily Bread Food Bank is a network of four
warehouse distribution centers in South Florida that provide food and
other grocery products to over 800 other non-profit agencies that have
feeding programs for the needy. Those agencies include soup kitchens
that provide prepared meals for those in need; food pantries that
distribute food for preparation elsewhere; daycare centers that
provide meals to needy children; shelters for those who are homeless,
abused or abandoned and residential facilities for the elderly, people
struggling with addiction, suffering from AIDS and those with physical
or mental handicaps. 43% of the recipients of food from Daily Bread
Food Bank are children, 12% are over 65 years old and 16% have
physical or mental disabilities.
Administrative offices and two warehouses are located in
Miami-Dade County with another warehouse in Fort Lauderdale and a
22,000 square foot distribution center in West Palm Beach. Daily Bread
Food Bank is the only South Florida affiliate of America's Second
Harvest, the largest hunger relief organization in the country.
United Way of Palm Beach County has identified emergency food and
shelter as the most pressing needs facing Palm Beach County this year.
The Daily Bread Food Bank's Palm Beach County warehouse distributed
enough food each month to provide over 100,000 meals.
CONTACT: Office Depot, Delray Beach
Alison Lynch, 561-438-4276
alynch2@officedepot.com
SOURCE: Office Depot
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