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Students at a Paying for College Bus Tour stop, Reading, PA
Indianapolis Mayor, Gleaners Food Bank recognize Sallie Mae Fund support to help feed more Hoosier children in need
Gleaners’ "BackSacks…Weekend Food For Kids" program
Indianapolis, Feb. 14, 2008—Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard recognized The Sallie Mae Fund for its $25,000 grant to Gleaners Food Bank to expand the “BackSacks…Weekend Food For Kids” program at a ceremony on Feb. 14.
According to a current study, conducted by America’s Second Harvest and researcher John Cook, Ph.D., overall, one out of six children in the United States and 16.47% of Indiana’s children are food insecure. Gifts from generous donors like The Sallie Mae Fund, the Efroymson Family Fund, a CICF fund and The Finish Line, Inc. have enabled Gleaners to expand the BackSacks program. The goal is to provide weekend meals to 1,000 school age children before the end of the 2008 school year.
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard thanks
Sallie Mae Fund representative Jon
Kroehler for The Fund's $25,000 grant to
Gleaners Food Bank
Gleaners piloted this feeding program for children in 2006. Bags of nutritious and “kid friendly” food are distributed just before the weekend to children in low-income areas; many who don’t have access to regular meals at home. The BackSacks not only assure that each child has enough to eat over the weekend, but help defray grocery bills. There are 540 children currently receiving weekend food through this program.
Present for the announcement were Mayor Greg Ballard of Indianapolis; Pastor Mike Crosley of Life Bridge Community, a BackSacks program site; Pamela Altmeyer, president and CEO, Gleaners Food Bank; Jon Kroehler, senior vice president, Sallie Mae, representing The Sallie Mae Fund; Rob MacPherson, vice president for development at CICF, representing the Efroymson Family Fund; and Kevin Flynn/senior vice president of marketing, The Finish Line, Inc.
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About The Sallie Mae Fund: The Sallie Mae Fund is a charitable organization sponsored by Sallie Mae, which has had a long-time presence and employee base in the Hoosier state. With a mission of increasing access to higher education, The Sallie Mae Fund has invested in several community and education initiatives, such as a recent gift to Indianapolis Public Schools to start a program that assists students in preparing for college success. Since 2001, The Fund has awarded $4.5 million in grants to charitable organizations in the Hoosier State. In that same time period, students attending colleges and universities in Indiana received more than $258,000 in scholarships. In addition, Sallie Mae’s employees led efforts to bring an additional $1.9 million to the region through The Fund’s Matching Gifts and Dollars for Doers programs.
The Sallie Mae Fund, a charitable organization sponsored by Sallie Mae, achieves its mission - to increase access to higher education for America’s students - by supporting programs and initiatives that help open doors to higher education, prepare families for their college investment, and bridge the gap when no one else can. In addition, The Fund encourages employee volunteerism and community service in the more than a dozen communities where Sallie Mae employees live and work. For more information, visit www.salliemaefund.org.
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About the Efroymson Family Fund, a CICF fund: The Efroymson Fund is a donor-advised fund of Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF). The Fund continues a long legacy of charitable commitment by the Efroymson family in central Indiana. Three generations, Gustave, Robert, and Dan, served without interruption on The Indianapolis Foundation Board of Trustees from 1919 to 1999. Currently, Lori Efroymson-Aguilera serves as a CICF board member. This Fund perpetuates the family's philanthropic tradition in central Indiana and beyond.
About Finish Line: The Finish Line, Inc. is one of the largest mall-based specialty retailers operating under the Finish Line and Man Alive brand names. The Finish Line, Inc. is publicly traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol FINL. The Company currently operates 701 Finish Line stores in 47 states and online and 96 Man Alive stores in 19 states and online. To learn more about these brands, visit www.finishline.com and www.manalive.com.
About Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, Inc.: Over 137,000 Hoosiers are not hungry today because Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana provides food and critical groceries to hunger relief charities. Gleaners, a member of America's Second Harvest the nation’s food bank network, was established in 1980. Since then, the food bank has distributed over 215 million pounds of food and critical grocery products to nearly 400 hunger relief charities serving needy Hoosiers in 20 central Indiana counties. To learn more, log onto www.gleaners.org.
Contact
Patricia Nash Christel
The Sallie Mae Fund
703-984-5382
patricia.christel@salliemae.com
