Thursday, 25 February 2010 17:02 Written by Nick

Salvation Army Welcomes Love Kitchen
Little Caesars Pizza joins the hunger fight

February 25, 2010 (Fort Myers, FL) - Pepperoni, cheese or veggie?  That could be the question of the day when The Salvation Army welcomes The Little Caesars Pizza Love Kitchen to its property at 2476 Edison Avenue on Friday, February 26th. 

Taking the place of the regular nightly meal, Little Caesars Pizza will be serving pizza to the many individuals and families who come to The Salvation Army to dine.

Since 1972, the nightly meal program, Meals With Compassion, has been serving a hot meal to anyone who is hungry in Lee County. Just in last year alone, The Army served over 24,000 nightly meals. The increases have been staggering. The Salvation Army has seen a 220% increase in meals served since 2001 and 80% of this increase has been in the last two years.

“Our food service programs (emergency food pantry and Meals with Compassion) are positioned as a point of entry for individuals and families. Once the immediate needs are met, our staff can begin to address the underlying issues that have forced our clients to seeks assistance in the first place,” stated Major Art Penhale, Corp Office for Lee, Hendry and Glades Counties.

The Salvation Army helps clients by connecting them to additional programs and resources both through their agency and their community’s fellow service providers.

The Army’s other mentioned food service program is the emergency food pantry. Its existence has been in the community since 1969. This program too, has seen staggering increases. Since 2007, the food pantry has given out 60% more food to those in need. In 2009, over 48,000 grocery orders were filled at the pantry which resulted in over 436,000 meals.

“We are so thankful to the local franchise owners and the company regional offices for donating all the food and labor cost to help in our Meals with Compassion program.  We welcome other businesses, restaurants and churches who would like to support our feeding program. Just taking a night or two a year to furnish a meal or a donation to sponsor a meal would help our mission go a long way ” remarked Penhale.

Any business, restaurant or church that would like to help with a night of feeding for the Meals of Compassion program may call The Salvation Army at 278-1551. 


FOR MEDIA INFORMATION ONLY
In order to reach the truly needy, Little Caesars Pizza and The Salvation Army feel that we should devote our attention to feeding the clientele at our location.  In covering the serving as a news story, we would therefore appreciate that you not mention the time of the serving. Publicizing the serving beforehand or on the day of the event is appreciated.

 Date:  Friday, February 26, 2010
 Location: The Salvation Army 
 
Outreach Service Center
2476 Edison Avenue
Fort Myers, FL 33901

 Time:  5:00pm