Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin: Lancaster Schools raise nearly 80,000 pounds of food for local pantry

Contact: Kris Tazelaar, Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin, KrisT@shfbmadison.org, 608-216-7206

MADISON, Wis., July 23, 2012 – Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin and the Princeton Club announced that Lancaster Community Schools raised 79,856 pounds of food and achieved “top team” status during the 2012 Million Pound Challenge fitness and weight loss campaign. Million Pound Challenge is a community fitness and weight loss campaign designed to raise food donations for Second Harvest Foodbank and its emergency food pantry partners.

The food raised by Lancaster Community Schools will benefit the Lancaster L.I.F.E. (Low Income Food Exchange), a Second Harvest Foodbank partner agency.

“The kids and the community are excited to learn that their extra efforts in their Physical Education classes contributed thousands of dollars to LIFE and resulted in a #1 ranking in the hours they accumulated in the Challenge,” said Sandy Kalnins, Lancaster School District teacher and Lancaster L.I.F.E. representative.

After two years of coming up just shy of the million pound target, this year’s campaign reached its goal just over two months into the five -month campaign. More than 5,000 people participated in the 2012 Million Pound Challenge. School teams participating through exercise was a new focus. Twenty-one schools, including Lancaster Community Schools, raised 152,157 pounds of food, accounting for nearly 10% percent of all pounds raised through the campaign. In 2011, the challenge raised 900,547 pounds of food.

About The Princeton Club

The Princeton Club started in Madison in 1987. With two locations in Madison and one in New Berlin, Wis., the Princeton Club serves more than 25,000 active members. These full service health clubs are open 24 hours per day, offering free child care; group fitness classes; nutritional and weight loss counseling; hundreds of state-of-the-art, strength and cardiovascular exercise machines; pools; basketball and tennis courts and more. The Princeton Club has earned recognition as “Best in Madison and Dane County” and “Best Health Club in Wisconsin.” For more information, visit http://www.princetonclub.net or call 608-241-2639 (BODY) or 608-833-2639 (BODY).

About Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin

Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin is a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending hunger in southwestern Wisconsin through community partnerships, serving nearly 141,000 people who struggle to put food on the table, including 43 percent who are children. Through food and financial donations and volunteer support, Second Harvest Foodbank acquires and distributes food to 300 partner agencies, including food pantries, shelters and meal sites, in 16 counties. From July 1, 2011–June 30, 2012, Second Harvest Foodbank distributed 9.8 million pounds of food. It is one of 200 members of Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity. For more information, visit http://www.SecondHarvestMadison.org.