The Everidge Match. For every $1 donation to Second Harvest Heartland, Everidge and then NAFEM matched for a combined $4 total donation at a grand total of $25,575, exceeding the goal of $20,000!
In addition to the Everidge Match in cash donations, the company has donated equipment, service, and training to better support Second Harvest Heartland. In July 2020, Everidge donated over $13,000 in PrepRite blast chiller products to the Second Harvest commissary kitchens.
Pictured is the Chowgirls commissary kitchen, Liz Mullen, executive chef and team, and Everidge EVP of Sales Eric Wickberg with a PrepRite blast chiller. The Chowgirls commissary kitchen in Minneapolis/St. Paul produces 8,000 meals weekly for MN Central Kitchen (MCK). MCK is the prepared meals program in response to food insecurity which jumpstarted in March 2020.
Second Harvest Heartland currently has 12 kitchens producing 24,000 meals a week. They utilize ingredients that are recovered, rescued, or sourced through the Second Harvest food bank supply chain. This initiative supports those in food crisis situations. Second Harvest Heartland has supplied at least 1 million meals since the pandemic.
Per Emily Paul with Second Harvest Foundation, “This is fantastic. Our kitchen production team at Chowgirls is incredibly excited about how [blast chillers] can help with food preservation/extending shelf life and transporting frozen meals for food safety purposes. This will be game-changing for MCK’s meals distribution, especially going into summer months.”
To make a donation or find out more information about volunteering, please visit https://www.2harvest.org/