Valley now in 1st place in Wal-Mart Fighting Hunger competition

YOUNGSTOWN

The Mahoning Valley leaped into first place in the nation today in the competition to win $1 million in grants to fight hunger in the Youngstown-Warren area.

Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull counties reached first place in the Fighting Hunger Together campaign, sponsored by Wal-Mart.

As of late tonight, the Youngstown-Warren area had 48,497 votes. In second and third places were Johnson City, Tenn., with 41,609 votes and Fresno, Calif., with 22,911 votes.

Based on the 2011 distribution of $1 million in grants in Salt Lake City, last year’s top vote-getter, Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley would get the bulk of the funds and other agencies, such as Catholic Charities, would get shares of it.

For the complete story, read Saturday's Vindicator or Vindy.com.