Senator praises ABF efforts in campaign to fight hunger

Sen. Blanche Lincoln joins ABF’s Jim Ingram and Washington-area school children during the last stop of ABF’s “Haul Across America” tour to raise awareness of childhood hunger.

The Trucker News Services

3/6/2008

WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) on Wednesday praised Fort Smith-based ABF U-Pack Moving during the last stop of their national campaign to raise awareness of child and family hunger. Lincoln called ABF one of Arkansas’s and America’s great corporate citizens and applauded its commitment to helping eliminate hunger.

“It’s hard to believe that in this great nation of plenty, more than 12 million children live in food insecurity,” said Lincoln, co-founder of the bipartisan Senate Hunger Caucus.  “The good news is that hunger has a solution, and the more people who know about the tremendous need that exists, the more we can do to help our fellow man. I salute ABF U-Pack Moving’s tremendous efforts to raise awareness of childhood hunger and help the families across our country experiencing hunger.  Together, we can put an end to hunger.”

ABF U-Pack Moving has partnered with America’s Second Harvest—The Nation’s Food Bank Network in a national initiative to “send childhood hunger packing.” The U-Pack A BackPack campaign has sought to raise enough funds to provide one million pounds of food for a variety of childhood and family hunger initiatives, such as Kids Café programs.

Wednesday’s event in Washington was the culmination of ABF U-Pack Moving’s Haul Across America tour to publicize the virtual food drive. The tour, which began in October 2007 on the West Coast, has crossed the nation collecting stories of child and family hunger. At the event, Lincoln accepted a collection of stories from children and families who have benefitted from various hunger programs.

The Capitol Hill press conference included Jim Ingram, vice president of market development of ABF; Lynn Brantley, president and CEO of the Capital Area Food Bank; and several Washington-area school children carrying backpacks to symbolize the U-Pack A BackPack initiative.  For more information on the national campaign, visit www.U-PackABackPack.org.