The FCA Foundation, the charitable arm of automaker FCA US LLC, recently announced a $500,000 grant to support United Way for Southeastern Michigan’s Innovative Solutions to Ending Childhood Hunger.
Content excerpted from a foundation press release. Read the full release here.
The FCA Foundation, the charitable arm of automaker FCA US LLC, recently announced a $500,000 grant to support United Way for Southeastern Michigan’s Innovative Solutions to Ending Childhood Hunger.
The grant will enable United Way to provide community groups and schools with the funds and technical assistance needed to run and expand Meet Up and Eat Up summer meals programs.
The funding will also support United Way's efforts to implement robust community engagement, marketing and canvassing strategies to ensure that children and families, school administrators and the public know about both the Meet Up and Eat Up summer program and the School Breakfast Program available each school day.
Raising awareness about the free food programs remains a priority to United Way.
During the school year, nearly 300,000 children in Macomb, Oakland and Wayne counties qualify for either free or reduced-price meals. Yet, of those eligible children, only about 17 percent participate in the free summer meals program Meet Up and Eat Up.
In response, FCA US sponsored five United Way block parties this summer to increase awareness and attendance of the Meet Up and Eat Up program.
According to data from the Michigan Department of Education, the total number of summer meals served in 2016 in Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties was more than 1.2 million.
