Citizens Bank donates $10K to food bank

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Citizens Bank has donated $10,000 to the Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley as part of the bank’s Carving Out Hunger program.

The contribution, which helps kick off the food bank’s holiday campaign, will provide 2,640 Thanksgiving chickens and other holiday food – or an estimated 10,560 meals – to local families in need.

The donated chickens will be distributed through the food bank’s 148 member agencies in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.

The contribution is part of a $100,000 commitment to food banks across Ohio this year thanks to Citizens Bank.

This year, one in six people in the Valley will face hunger, food bank officials said.

Last year, the food bank distributed a record 10.4 million pounds of food, including 3 million pounds of produce, to hungry families in the three counties. Citizens Bank has donated more than $1.2 million through Carving Out Hunger over the past 12 years for holiday food programs across Ohio.

“We greatly appreciate this annual gift of poultry through the Carve Out Hunger program,” said Michael Iberis, food bank executive director, in a news release.