Craig Morgan and UnitedHealthcare Fight Hunger in Middle Tennessee

Country music star, TV host and Dickson native Craig Morgan will join volunteers from UnitedHealthcare today to staff a Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee Mobile Pantry.

Each Mobile Pantry delivers food directly to Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee partner agencies around middle Tennessee for one-day, large-scale community food distribution. People who need food assistance will receive perishable and nonperishable food items, fresh produce, personal-care items and household cleaning products.

On average, Mobile Pantries feed 250 families and supplies around 15,000 pounds of food per distribution per day. This program, often used with small food pantries that do not have a lot of storage space, is one of the most effective ways for Second Harvest to provide food assistance to rural communities. Mobile Pantries are available to all 46 counties in Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee's service area.

The volunteer project will celebrate UnitedHealthcare's recent $100,000 donation to Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee. The donation will help bring food to more than 10,000 hungry children, families and seniors by funding 40 Mobile Pantry deliveries throughout Middle Tennessee. This donation is one of three grants UnitedHealthcare is giving to Feeding America chapters in Tennessee. Second Harvest Food Bank of Northeastern Tennessee and Second Harvest Food Bank of East Tennessee each are receiving $50,000.

"As demand for our services continues to increase, we must be in a position to provide assistance to the growing number of children, seniors and families in Tennessee," said Jaynee Day, president and CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee. "We appreciate the generous donation from UnitedHealthcare, which will enable us to provide food items and fresh produce to more than 10,000 families through our Mobile Pantry program."

"There are a lot of parents struggling to feed their families right here in Dickson, so I'm glad to join UnitedHealthcare and Second Harvest Food Bank to help provide solutions and fight hunger in our own backyard here in Middle Tennessee," said Morgan.

"UnitedHealthcare is grateful for the opportunity to partner with Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee to make a difference in the lives of Tennesseans and to help ensure they have access to fresh, nutritious food," said Scott A. Bowers, CEO, Tennessee, UnitedHealthcare Community Plan. "We want to do all we can to help eradicate hunger in Tennessee."

This is the second year UnitedHealthcare has partnered with Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee in the fight against hunger. Last year, UnitedHealthcare's $100,000 donation enabled Second Harvest to distribute nearly 480,000 meals and more than 575,000 pounds of food to hungry children, families and children in middle Tennessee.

This project is the latest in UnitedHealthcare's "Do Good. Live Well." employee volunteer initiative, whose mission is to prevent hunger and obesity and inspire service and encourage volunteerism. For more information about the benefits of volunteering and to find local opportunities to get involved, visit www.DoGoodLiveWell.org. Follow @DoGoodLiveWell on Twitter or "like" Do Good. Live Well. on Facebook.

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