WASHINGTON, D.C.—In response to the tragic earthquakes in Haiti, Doubletree Hotels announced a $50,000 donation on behalf of its Teaching Kids to CARE community outreach program to Friends of the World Food Program (Friends of WFP). The donation will help support the United Nations World Food Program’s (WFP) School Meals initiative in Haiti in an effort to further assist the recovery efforts currently underway.
“Millions of earthquake survivors in Haiti are struggling every day to survive, and WFP has been working day and night to reach them with food and other humanitarian assistance,” said Friends of WFP president and CEO, Karen Sendelback. “Doubletree Hotels’ generosity is critical to these emergency feeding operations, which continue to be a lifeline to so many Haitians. We appreciate Doubletree Hotels and participants in its Teaching Kids to CARE program.”
During the fall of 2009, Doubletree Hotels developed a relationship with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide, as part of its award-winning Teaching Kids to CARE community outreach program. In 2009, Doubletree hotel volunteers worked with approximately 10,000 school children in 125 communities as part of a “Community Drive to Fight World Hunger” campaign to teach students about world hunger issues—both in their communities and beyond. A unique set of educational lessons were conducted that culminated in a series of community food drives, during which an estimated 200,000 nonperishable food items were collected for local food banks and philanthropic organizations. To celebrate the kids’ local community contributions, Doubletree pledged that it would match every nonperishable food item contributed and donate its collections to benefit the WFP’s School Meals Program.
Hotels, Schools Partner to Make a Difference
“World hunger is always a critical issue and during times of disaster the magnitude of basic needs can seem overwhelming,” said Mary Beth Parks, vice president-brand marketing for Doubletree Hotels. “It’s important to focus on the role we can all play with donations as well as hands-on philanthropy. We are so impressed with the efforts of our hotels and their local adopted schools during our recent Teaching Kids to CARE food drive. We hope that this donation to Friends of WFP both honors those efforts and provides resources to help Haiti during this terribly difficult time.”
WFP is currently streaming humanitarian assistance into Haiti, opening up air, sea and land corridors, and rehabilitating emergency telecommunications systems for the entire humanitarian community. Food distribution programs by WFP began within 24 hours of the earthquake striking and in a recent week they delivered food assistance to approximately 200,000 people. In the coming days, WFP aims to move the equivalent of 10 million ready-to-eat meals so that people whose homes have been destroyed and who have no access to cooking facilities can feed their families. Friends of WFP is a U.S.-based, nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that focuses on building support in the United States for the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) and other hunger relief operations.
Founded in 2002, Teaching Kids to CARE is an award-winning community-based outreach initiative that has connected local Doubletree hotels with more than 150,000 students in local elementary schools and youth organizations. Teaching Kids to CARE educates children about the importance of making environmentally and socially conscious decisions for their community and their world at the earliest ages.
For more information about Doubletree Hotels’ Teaching Kids to CARE program, visit the Think Trees website at www.doubletree.com/thinktrees.
