Shed a few pounds, help Valley food bank

By WILLIAM K. ALCORN

alcorn@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Aaron Thompkins, a Howland native who was a contestant on NBC TV’s 2010 “The Biggest Loser,” is helping himself by helping raise funds for Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley.

Thompkins is the 2011 Pound-for-Pound Challenge Champion for Second Harvest, which is participating in a national initiative encouraging Americans to lose weight and at the same time raise funds for their local food bank.

“I’ve found that weight loss is all about setting goals and then keeping yourself accountable through creating and reaching milestones,” Thompkins said. “I thought, what better way to make a commitment to lose weight than by pledging that weight with the Pound-for-Pound Challenge. People are not only helping themselves with this declaration, they are also helping their community.”

The challenge is sponsored by “The Biggest Loser: Couples,” General Mills, Subway, and Feeding America food banks, of which Second Harvest is an affiliate, said Michael Iberis, Second Harvest executive director.

For every pound a Mahoning Valley resident pledges to lose on www.pfpchallenge.com, General Mills and Subway will donate 11 cents to Feeding America, which means a pound of groceries will be donated to Second Harvest, Iberis said.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com