CHARLOTTE - Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton tries to avoid tacklers on the football field. But on Tuesday, the rookie helped tackle hunger at the Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina.
Newton joined Bank of America Charlotte Market President Charles Bowman and Bank of America employee volunteers to stuff 1,000 backpacks for children, prepare 1,600 boxes for senior citizens, bag 40,000 pounds of fresh produce and assemble special food boxes for the holidays.
Currently, more than 451,000 people live at or below the poverty level, including 193,000 children and seniors in the 19 county-region of North and South Carolina served by Second Harvest. This is an increase of more than 60,000 people in the past two years.
Newton's and Bank of America's commitment to fighting hunger didn't end with Tuesday's event, which supported the bank's nationwide Gift for Opportunity™ fund. For every $1 donated to Feeding America or local food banks via http://feedingamerica.org/BankofAmerica or http://www.bankofamerica.com/give , the Bank of America Charitable Foundation will contribute an additional $2, up to a total match of $500,000. This is in addition to a $1 million contribution to Feeding America by Bank of America. Feeding America's Give a Meal program helps provide food to the nearly 49 million Americans who struggle with hunger.
