Fifth Third Bank today kicked off a community food drive named “5,300 Meals: The Ultimate Deposit.” The drive is part of the bank’s annual employee and customer celebration of “The Fifth Third Day,” which takes place every May 3rd. The goal of the drive is to provide at least 5,300 meals to the hungry of the tri-state area. The Evansville Otters and the Tri-State Food Bank are partnering with Fifth Third to assist with food collection and distribution.
“We are well aware of the challenges that many of our neighbors and communities are facing at this time,” offered Lloyd Winnecke, Vice President and Marketing Director for Fifth Third Bank in Evansville. “This effort will help. We know that we live in a generous region, and we’re confident that the compassion of the tri-state will once again shine through as we strive to collect 5,300 meals,” Winnecke said.
Area residents are invited to participate in the food drive by delivering non-perishable food items to any area Fifth Third Bank branch. All collected food will be donated to the Tri-State Food Bank and will be disbursed to food pantries around the tri-state.
“We are proud to partner with Fifth Third Bank on this powerful initiative,” said Mary Blair, Executive Director of the Tri-State Food Bank. “Each year we distribute more than four million pounds of food through our network of over 250 agencies; that translates to almost 87,000 families who annually benefit from food provided by the Tri-State Food Bank. It’s wonderful to see one of our corporate citizens, and one of our community family treasures, so committed to improving the lives of those in need,” Blair said.
The Evansville Otters will also be accepting food donations as part of the 5,300-meal drive on May 22, which is opening night of the home season. Otters fans can bring their non-perishable food items to Bosse Field’s main entrance, where a Tri-State Food Pantry vehicle will be parked to accept donations.
“The effort to collect 5,300 meals will only make opening night more special,” said Wayne Krenchicki, manager of the Evansville Otters. “We appreciate our long standing partnership with Fifth Third Bank and applaud them for taking this leadership role in assisting with the Tri-State Food Bank,” Krenchicki said.
In addition, a member of the Tri-State Food Bank’s “Kid’s Café” will be chosen to throw out the first pitch on opening night, as the Otters begin Frontier League play against the Southern Illinois Miners. The “Kid’s Café” is a structured nutritional program that provides year round meals for “at risk” children.
Fifth Third Bancorp is a diversified financial services company headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. The company has $119 billion in assets, operates 16 affiliates with 1,311 full-service Banking Centers, including 95 Bank Mart® locations open seven days a week inside select grocery stores and 2,354 ATMs in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, Florida, Tennessee, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Missouri, Georgia and North Carolina. Fifth Third operates five main businesses: Commercial Banking, Branch Banking, Consumer Lending, Investment Advisors and Fifth Third Processing Solutions. Fifth Third is among the largest money managers in the Midwest and, as of March 31, 2009, has $166 billion in assets under care, of which it managed $23 billion for individuals, corporations and not-for-profit organizations. Investor information and press releases can be viewed at
www.53.com. Fifth Third’s common stock is traded on the NASDAQ® National Global Select Market under the symbol “FITB”.
