Jun 03, 2020
ARLINGTON, VA -- With food insecurity rising across the United States due to the impact of COVID-19, USA Rice has done its part to provide immediate relief to those in need in the Washington, DC, metropolitan region. Over the past three months, USA Rice provided food and cooking equipment donations to three charities: in all, 285 pounds of U.S.-grown rice and 22 Aroma rice cookers were distributed.
“As a whole, the U.S. rice industry has always prioritized helping those in need from international food aid to local donations, and the industry’s trade association is no different,” said Cameron Jacobs, USA Rice director of domestic promotion. “USA Rice is fortunate to be in a position to support our neighbors in the name of our industry.”
One hundred and fifty one-pound bags of whole grain rice, recipe brochures, eight mini rice cookers, and nutrition guides about U.S.-grown rice were donated to DC Central Kitchen’s COVID-19 response operations, specifically to provide weekly bags of produce and U.S.-grown rice throughout the city, including to students and graduates from the Culinary Job Training program.
More U.S. rice and six rice cookers were donated to the Grace Episcopal Church food pantry in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. The church currently serves as the only food pantry operation in Old Town.
The Greg Gannon Canned Food Drive received more than 100 pounds of rice and eight rice cookers to support their work raising awareness of local hunger needs through a network of volunteers that collect nonperishable food items in their neighborhoods to donate to local food pantries.
“The donations these local charities received were a combination of purchased rice and a surplus supply of member-donated rice from the 2019 Think Rice Road Trip program,” said Jacobs. “The Rice Truck’s consumer-based effort always had a charitable aspect and this local food assistance flows naturally from that.”