Share Our Strength Maine Announces Recognition Of Hannaford Efforts Supporting New Cooking Matters To Maine Nutrition Program

Hannaford Supermarkets, a central strategic partner of Share Our Strength Maine, recently was recognized by Share Our Strength with a Local Corporate Partner Leadership award for its valued efforts on behalf of Share Our Strength Maine's "Cooking Matters to Maine" program, launched in June 2010.

Cooking Matters (www.cookingmatters.org), formerly Operation Frontline, is a groundbreaking, cooking-based nutrition program under the Share Our Strength umbrella. The program teaches families how to prepare healthy, tasty meals on limited budgets. Cooking Matters to Maine is run by Good Shepherd Food-Bank and is the Maine wing of the national Cooking Matters program. The Maine program is off to a robust start toward its first-year goal of serving 200 Maine families.

In a state where one of three children is overweight or obese, the nutrition-focused program fills a widely recognized gap. According to Kristen Miale, program director of Cooking Matters to Maine, local culinary and nutrition professionals and area residents volunteer their time and lead hands-on courses that provide participants with savvy know-how about selecting tasty and affordable ingredients, stretching them across multiple meals, and using healthy cooking techniques and recipes that help provide the best nourishment possible to families. To date, several greater Portland area restaurants' chefs and sous chefs, from well-known restaurants including The Farmer's Table, Back Bay Grill, and The Frog and Turtle, are participating in the program.

Hannaford, a longtime supporter of anti-hunger initiatives, was among the first to support the much-needed Cooking Matters to Maine program. Its involvement is credited with playing an instrumental role in growing the program since its inception, Miale noted. The company's officials engage their supermarket staff and nutritionists to assist with Cooking Matters to Maine educational grocery store tours, and store managers are contacted ahead of time to select associates from the produce, meat and other fresh food departments to answer questions and provide their ingredient selection and cooking expertise to participants.

The Local Corporate Partner Leadership award, according to Share Our Strength officials, is granted to a company that goes above and beyond to help facilitate a program on the local level through cash contributions and donations of resources. The announcement of Hannaford earning the award was made during Share Our Strength's national 2010 Conference of Leaders, held earlier this month in Washington, DC.

For further information about Share Our Strength, visit www.strength.org and Share Our Strength Maine's Facebook page at http://tinyurl.com/26nsoa8.

For further information on how to get involved with Cooking Matters to Maine, contact Kristen Miale at kmiale@gsfb.org or at 207.423.5166.


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About Share Our Strength
Share Our Strength is the leading national organization working to make sure no kid in America grows up hungry. We weave together a net of community groups, activists and food programs to catch children at risk of hunger and ensure they have nutritious food where they live, learn and play. We work with the culinary industry to create engaging, pioneering programs like Share Our Strength's Taste of the Nation, Share Our Strength's Great American Bake Sale, Share Our Strength's A Tasteful Pursuit, Share Our Strength's Great American Dine Out, and Share Our Strength's Cooking Matters. Visit Strength.org.

About Good Shepherd Food-Bank
The largest hunger relief organization in Maine, Good Shepherd Food-Bank provides for those at risk of hunger by soliciting and distributing surplus food to more than 600 partner agencies. Since 1981, the Food-Bank has partnered with individuals, businesses and farmers to alleviate hunger and build community relationships. Dur