"Fill the Plate" Launched by Morgan Stanley Fights Childhood Hunger

by  Linda St.Cyr, Contributing Writer

On September 9th, Morgan Stanley launched a new campaign to fight against childhood hunger by partnering with Feeding America. The new campaign is called "Fill the Plate" and targets combating hunger during the weekends and after-school hours when children are most at risk of hunger

The partnership between Morgan Stanley and Feeding America is intended to strengthen and expand Feeding America's BackPack Program. The BackPack Program is designed for children to easily and discreetly give children access to nonperishable, nutritious foods. The backpacks are filled with foods and then distributed to children on the last day before the weekend or holiday vacation from school. According to Feeding America, during the fiscal year of 2009 over 190,000 children were served and over 3.7 million backpacks were distributed because of the backpack program. With the help of Morgan Stanley's "Fill the Plate" campaign, the hope is that the number of packs distributed will increase another 25% with more than 900,000 children being served by the end of 2014.

Morgan Stanley launched "Fill the Plate" on its 75th anniversary renewing their ongoing commitment to children's health issues and community service. President and CEO of Morgan Stanley, James Gorman, said of the partnership,

"Good nutrition is essential for children's success in school and throughout life.We look forward to partnering with Feeding America, an organization that knows how to make a genuine impact in communities across the U.S."

Vicki Escarra, President and CEO of Feeding America, said of the partnership with the leading global financial services firm, "We applaud and welcome Morgan Stanley to the frontline in our continued fight to end hunger within our lifetime."

This is not the first program Morgan Stanley has stood firmly behind. In the past 50 years, The Morgan Stanley Foundation has advocated, campaigned, initiated projects and/or given non-profits grant funding. Some of the projects and non-profits supported by Morgan Stanley include the Global Alliance for Children's Health, the Million Meals Summer Program, Grow Clinics, Mount Sinai Sexual Assault and Violence Intervention Program (SAVI), Renewable Energy Projects, the Carbon Disclosurer Project and Education scholarships, internship and career development.