The Arizona Cardinals Football Club and Sagicor Life Insurance Company – with offices in Scottsdale – are teaming up to sponsor a holiday food drive benefiting St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance. The two organizations officially kicked off the 3 ½ week food drive today at St. Mary's main warehouse location in Phoenix. Arizona Cardinals running back Beanie Wells, team mascot Big Red and Cardinals cheerleaders were on hand today along with Sagicor executives and St. Mary's officials to announce the start of the annual food drive.
Wells kicked off the food drive by depositing the first food drive items into one of the drop-off boxes.
"As a team we get so much support from our fans and the Arizona community so it's great to give back like this," said Wells. "Cardinals fans play a big part helping us win games and we're counting on them helping to make this food drive a success too."
Food Drive Details
The food drive begins today, Oct. 26 and ends on Friday, Nov. 19, 2010. Starting today fans are encouraged to bring non-perishable food items and/or money to donate to the Food Drive. The goal for this year's food drive is to collect enough food and money for 50,000 meals. Below are the different drop-off locations for the public to bring food or money to support the food drive:
St. Mary's Food Bank
All three St. Mary's Food Bank locations in the Phoenix metro¬-area:
• Del E. Webb Center (Main Warehouse location)
2631 N. 31st Ave. (Phoenix)
• St. Mary's Westside
13050 W. Elm St. (Surprise)
• Knight Transportation Center
3131 W. Thomas (Phoenix)
Arizona Cardinals Training Facility
• 8701 S Hardy Drive (Tempe)
University of Phoenix Stadium- Administrative Entrance
• 1 Cardinals Drive (Glendale)
On Sunday, November 14th prior to the Cardinals-Seattle Seahawks game at University of Phoenix Stadium, wives and girlfriends of players and front office personnel will team with volunteers from St. Mary's Food Bank and Cardinals Cheerleaders at collection points outside all five stadium gates and the Great Lawn to collect non-perishable food items and/or money for donation.
Sagicor Life Insurance Company, which has a regional office in Scottsdale, has entered into a multi-year marketing partnership with the Cardinals that consists of various community-based programs affiliated with the Cardinals organization.
In addition to the annual Food Drive, the programs include: "Read with Big Red," which features team mascot Big Red and Cardinals players along with staff from the Cardinals and Sagicor visiting with kids (ages 6-14) from various charitable and non-profit organizations throughout the Valley to promote the importance of reading.
In addition, Sagicor will partner with the Cardinals for the annual NFL and United Way "Hometown Huddle" program which focuses on volunteerism, volunteer recruitment and helping children from high risk communities throughout the Valley.
"Sagicor is proud to be able to help partner with the Cardinals and especially be involved in its community programs through this partnership," said Bart Catmull, Chief Operations Officer, Sagicor Life Insurance Company. "The Sagicor vision is about contributing to and enhancing the lives of the people in the communities and we could not have asked for a better way to do so. As a business with customers and employees that live, shop, work and play in the Phoenix community, we are committed to doing our part to give back."
St. Mary's distributes enough food for 275,000 meals a day and distributed more than 72 million pounds of food across two-thirds of Arizona's 15 counties in last year – the most of any food bank in the United States.
"Each year, this food drive comes at a critical time for St. Mary's with the holiday season upon us," Food Bank President and CEO Terry Shannon said. "We would like to thank the Arizona Cardinals and Sagicor Life Insurance Company for helping in the fight against hunger in Arizona – and we'll be rooting for a Big Red victory over the Seahawks."
Phoenix-area residents and Cardinals fans that have questions about the Food Drive can visit www.azcardinals.com.
About Sagicor Life Insurance Company
Sagicor Life Insurance Company is a full-service life insurance company, rated 'A-' (Excellent) by AM Best, and licensed in 44 States and the District of Columbia and has an office in Scottsdale. To learn more about Sagicor, visit www.SagicorLifeUSA.com or call 888-SAGICOR.
About St. Mary's Food Bank
St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance, the world's first food bank and the largest food bank in the United States, is a non-sectarian, nonprofit organization that alleviates hunger by efficiently gathering and distributing food to sites that serve the hungry. Serving two-thirds of Arizona's 15 counties, the organization is committed to volunteerism, building community relationships and improving the quality of life for Arizonans in need.
