"PB XPress," The Washington Trust Company's first annual peanut butter drive, was a "HUGE" success. Washington Trust representatives recently delivered more two tons of peanut butter to the Rhode Island Food Community Food Bank. The "PB XPress" caravan lead by Jack Treanor, President and Chief Operating Officer of Washington Trust pulled into the Food Bank stock full of peanut butter. The campaign's mascot "HANK" the elephant, "HANK" being an acronym for Helping Area Needy Kids was also on hand. The peanut butter will be used in food baskets for needy families throughout the state.

"Many highly nutritious items, particularly high protein foods like peanut butter, are nearly impossible to obtain through donations. Yet these important foods are the ones most often requested by our agencies," said Bernie Beaudreau, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.

The campaign was kicked off in January to help restock the Food Bank's shelves after the Holiday's when food supplies are traditionally low. "We learned that The Rhode Island Community Food Bank needed food donations, so we decided to organize a food drive in our branch market area," said Elizabeth B. Eckel, Senior Vice President of Marketing for The Washington Trust Company.

Many area businesses participated by collecting peanut butter at their own locations. Most successful of all were the campaigns that were run by the area middle school children, which accounted for over half of the supply. "The campaign provided an opportunity for the children to learn about the hunger problem in Rhode Island and, by collecting food, to do something about it," added Eckel.

Washington Trust praised the efforts of all the participating middle schools by awarding each school a gift certificate for art supplies. The grand prize winners were the Narragansett Pier School for the greatest percentage of participation and the Chariho Middle School for the most jars collected.

"We appreciate the efforts of The Washington Trust Company and the students at the South County middle schools. The peanut butter will go a long way in helping to feed the hungry in our area," added Beaudreau.

The Washington Trust Company, a state-chartered bank founded in 1800, offers a full range of financial services including trust and investment management through its branch offices in southern Rhode Island and southeastern Connecticut. The bank is a subsidiary of Washington Trust Bancorp, Inc. whose common stock trades on The Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol WASH. Web site address: www.washtrust.com.

The Rhode Island Community Food Bank is a non-profit organization located in West Warwick, RI. The Food Bank solicits, stores, and distributes food products donated by supermarkets, wholesalers, food processors, local farmers, and community food drives, as well as perishable food items collected through the Prepared and Perishable Food Rescue Program. The food is then redistributed to the Food Bank's 586 member agencies. In the past fiscal year ending June 30, the Food Bank distributed a record 5,964,910 pounds of food.

Washington Trust Company

Washington Trust Company

More from Washington Trust Company