PepsiCo Donates Food, Essentials to Atlanta Needy

ATLANTAPepsi Co. and Feed The Children partnered to deliver 10 semi tractor-trailers full of food, essentials and personal care items to Compassion Atlanta on Oct. 6 to help nearly 3,000 Atlanta families.

Approximately 150 PepsiCo employees from its various area businesses, including Frito-Lay, Pepsi Beverages Co. and PepsiCo Warehouse, handed out more than 14,000 boxes of food, essentials and personal care items, including 3,000 bags of PepsiCo products like Frito-Lay's Baked! line of snacks, SunChips multigrain snacks, Rold Gold pretzels, Quaker Oatmeal, Quaker Chewy Chocolate Chip granola bars, Tropicana orange juice, Propel Fit water and Sierra Mist Natural lemon-lime soda.

Feed The Children's partner agency, Compassion Atlanta, identified the families in need of assistance and provided volunteer assistance at the event. Each family selected was given a voucher to receive a 25-pound box of food, 10-pound box of essentials, box of Avon products, bag of PepsiCo products, including brands from Frito-Lay, Quaker, Tropicana and Pepsi.

The distribution was the latest stop on Feed The Children's Americans Feeding Americans Caravan. The caravan has helped more than 150,000 families across the country in cities that have been affected by the nation's economic downturn. Feed The Children plans to help at least 200,000 families with the caravan by the end of 2010.

"The tremendous contribution by PepsiCo, Frito-Lay, Pepsi Beverages Co. and their employees has allowed us to expand this event and help thousands of people in the Atlanta area," said Tony Sellars, spokesperson for Feed The Children. "Our Americans Feeding Americans project is geared toward people who are still being affected by the economic downturn, including many who, until recently, considered themselves middle class. A lot of these people, for the first time in their lives, have not been able to provide for their families and this distribution will provide relief for them at a crucial time."