Bayer HealthCare Donates Hundreds of Food Items to Community Food Bank of New Jersey in Response to Governor's Plea to Help the State's Populati...( WAYNE N.J. and MORRISTOWN N.J. Nov. 2...),Health

WAYNE, N.J. and MORRISTOWN, N.J., Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ Bayer HealthCare has donated hundreds of food items to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey (CFBNJ) in response to an urgent call from Governor Jon Corzine for local pharmaceutical companies to help restock supplies at the state's food banks.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20081120/NETH138 )

Mary Lou Panzano, director, US Internal Communications, and Anne King, manager, Field Communications, welcomed Samuel I. Backlar, purchasing agent and food sourcing analyst at the Community Food Bank to the Wayne campus of Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals. In Wayne and at the Morristown campus of Bayer HealthCare Consumer Care, volunteers helped load the CFBNJ's van with bags overflowing with food items donated by Bayer employees. Another food drive is planned for early next year.

"We are grateful that Bayer and its employees have been so responsive to the call for help for our state's food bank supplies. This demonstrates their commitment to the people in New Jersey who are in need today," said Kathleen DiChiara, president and CEO of the CFBNJ. "We also want to applaud the work of the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey, which launched the initiative to raise money for emergency food assistance and encouraged healthcare companies to donate directly to food banks."

During 2008, food banks in New Jersey have experienced about a 30 percent increase in new clients seeking assistance. The increased demand has created shortages in the food supply. This has, unfortunately, resulted in hardships for a number of the state's food banks. For example, Paterson's largest emergency food pantry had to close for a day because it had no food to provide its estimated 250 daily clients and the FoodBank in Hillside announced it would likely be rationing food for the fir
'/>"/>