• Ford is donating five Transit Connect cargo vans to organizations dedicated to hunger relief serving the Kansas City, Louisville, Miami, Phoenix and Dallas metropolitan areas
•  These vehicles support Ford’s and Ford Motor Company Fund’s ongoing efforts to address food insecurity, including a nationwide network of more than 50 mobile food pantries
• The five Transit Connect vans will be donated across five days the week of Dec. 7

DEARBORN, Mich., Nov. 24, 2015 – Ford is helping to ensure more people have enough to eat this holiday season by donating five Transit Connect cargo vans to organizations that provide hunger relief services.

The groups in the Kansas City, Louisville, Miami, Phoenix and Dallas metropolitan areas will use the vans to pick up food, transport it to their facilities and deliver it to recipients.

Each Transit Connect van offers 103.9 cubic feet of cargo space and is capable of carrying 1,470 pounds, which equals more than 1,100 meals per vehicle per trip.

“The first step in creating a better world is helping to fulfill the most basic needs of our neighbors,” said Janet Lawson, director, Ford Motor Company Fund. “More than 48 million Americans live in fear of going hungry each day and these vehicles will deliver meals – not just during this season of giving but throughout the year.” 

The program kicks off Dec. 7 with the donation of a Transit Connect to The Salvation Army of Kansas City. The organization last year served 497,590 meals through its corps community centers, social service centers and emergency feeding units – in addition to delivering more than 27,000 meals to homebound individuals. Earlier this year, Ford worked with The Salvation Army in Washington, D.C., to outfit a larger Transit van to serve as a mobile kitchen.

Ford will donate a second Transit Connect van to Dare to Care Food Bank in Louisville on Dec. 8. Dare to Care partners with more than 300 local social service agencies to distribute food – providing more than 16 million meals in the past year.

The third donation, going to Chapman Partnership in Miami, will be made Dec. 9. Chapman Partnership operates two homeless assistance centers with 800 beds located in Miami and Homestead. Collectively, these two centers serve approximately 5,000 men, women and families with children annually, providing emergency housing; meals; health, dental and psychiatric care; day care; job training; job placement; and assistance with securing stable housing.

The fourth van will be delivered to Matthew’s Crossing Food Bank in Chandler, Arizona – a suburb of Phoenix – on Dec. 10. Matthew’s Crossing feeds approximately 3,500 people a month, including those on fixed incomes, seniors, people with disabilities, and homeless clients.

The final Transit Connect van will be donated to North Texas Food Bank in Dallas on Dec. 11. North Texas Food Bank is aiming to provide access this year to 66 million nutritious meals. The donated Ford Transit Connect will play a prominent role in providing at least 2 million meals through the organization’s child and nutrition education programs.

Donations support ongoing efforts to fight hunger
Ford and Ford Fund, the company’s philanthropic arm, help strengthen communities by assisting hunger relief agencies year-round in many different ways – from Ford volunteers working at food banks to delivering Meals on Wheels and supporting food drives.

The five new vans join Ford’s nationwide network of more than 50 mobile food pantries that have distributed more than 6 million meals in the past five years.

Last month, Ford Fund and dealers in New England announced they will invest $2 million during the next five years to feed more people in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Ford Fund and Northwest Ford dealers are teaming up once again to feed hungry kids during the holidays, with grants topping $100,000 to be shared among 66 Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Since 2013, Ford Focus on Child Hunger has provided more than 1.5 million meals and snacks for children in the Northwest United States.