Pistons Provide Food for 8,000 Detroit Families

AUBURN HILLS, Mich.– As part of the NBA Cares Season of Giving, the Detroit Pistons are hosting multiple Thanksgiving food distributions across Detroit on Tuesday, Nov. 24 from 1-4:30 p.m. Utilizing money raised during the 2009 Pistons Care Telethon benefiting Feed The Children, 20 semi-trucks will deliver food and personal care items to 8,000 Detroit-area families in critical need before the Thanksgiving holiday.

Pistons players, along with Palace Sports & Entertainment employees and Pistons dance team Automotion, will lend a hand at the Second Ebenezer Church location (14601 Dequindre Road, Detroit, MI 48212) from 1-4:30 p.m. Each family will receive a 25-lb box of non-perishable food and a 15-lb box of personal cares items. Meijer and Pistons players Ben Gordon and Kwame Brown are also donating approximately 400 turkeys as a surprise to families at the Second Ebenezer Church location at 2:30 p.m.

“We are amazed that the money raised by our Pistons Cares Telethon is still benefitting people nearly a year later” said Tom Wilson, Pistons CEO. “As an organization, we relish these opportunities to get out into the community and make a difference in people’s lives. In the economic climate that the state of Michigan is in these days, we, who have the means, should be pulling together and lending a hand wherever, and whenever it is needed.”

The 8,000 families benefiting from the full day event were pre-identified and received a voucher in advance through Gleaners Community Food Bank and their partnering agencies including; Vanguard CDC, Brightmoor Alliance and Loaves and Fishes Southwest Detroit. The food distributions are taking place at three locations across Detroit; Second Ebenezer Church, God Land Church and the Eastern Market. Every location is receiving enough supplies for 2,000 families.

Other non-profit agencies will receive supplies at a later date including Detroit Rescue Mission, Forgotten Harvest, Capuchin, Coalition on Temporary Shelter (COTS) and God’s Nondenominational Outreach Ministries.

Funding for the food and supplies came from the Pistons Care Telethon, a 17-hour event that took place on March 11 at The Palace. The telethon raised more than $450,000 in pledges. This money will be used to feed more than 25,000 families in critical need in the state of Michigan. Truck deliveries are taking place May, 2009 through January 2010. Dominos, Tim Hortons and Absopure are providing food and beverages for the 300 volunteers helping with the event that day.

About Feed The Children
Founded in 1979, Feed The Children is consistently ranked as one of the 10 largest international charities in the U.S., based on private, non-government support. Feed The Children is a Christian, international, nonprofit relief organization with headquarters in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, that delivers food, medicine, clothing and other necessities to individuals, children and families who lack these essentials due to famine, war, poverty or natural disasters. In FY 2008, Feed The Children distributed more than 133 million pounds of food and other essentials to children and their families in all 50 states and internationally, supplementing more than 760,000 meals each day. Since its founding, the organization has reached out to help those in need in 118 countries around the globe. For more information, please visit www.feedthechildren.org.

All deliveries are from 1-4:30pm
Second Ebenezer Church: 14601 Dequindre Road, Detroit, MI 48212
God Land Church: 22450 Schoolcraft Road, Detroit, MI 48223
Eastern Market: 2934 Russell Street, Detroit, MI 48207