American Italian Pasta Company (NYSE:PLB), the leading producer of dry pasta in North America, and several other local individuals and companies are responding to the needs of the hungry in Kansas City.

More than two million meals, including 11 truckloads of AIPC pasta, were recently donated to Harvesters – The Kansas City Community Food Bank – that feeds people in need throughout 13 counties in the Metropolitan area.

“Each year, we are excited to be a part of the Harvesters program,” said Timothy Webster, president and chief executive officer of AIPC. “The importance of the program really became apparent in 1998 when I met Gerda Klein, a Holocaust survivor. I listened to her message of hope in the face of adversity and our responsibility to feed the hungry.”

Klein’s Academy Award winning documentary, All But My Life, is a story about her survival of the Holocaust and events that took place leading up to her husband of 50 years, Kurt Klein, opening the door to freedom. Webster said Kurt and Gerda’s inspiration has led AIPC and its management team to contribute more than five million meals to needy people through Harvesters and other feeding organizations since 1998.

Through the local chapter of Young Presidents Organization (YPO), the individuals and families on the attached listing were also motivated by the Klein’s message to contribute to the pasta donation to Harvesters.

“I am delighted and overwhelmed by the response to the Klein’s recent visit with our YPO chapter,” said Webster. “It is clearly a case of good people doing good deeds for good reasons.”

“Harvesters has worked to feed the hungry in our community for more than 20 years,” said Michelle Groner, Harvester’s community and public relations manager. “With the generous support of local companies like AIPC, Harvesters has distributed more than 163-million pounds of food to feed the weakest and most vulnerable members of our community.”

Harvesters distributes an average of 1.3 million pounds of food and household products each month to Kansas City’s hungry – individuals, families with children and elderly poor. Information about future donations to Harvesters through AIPC can be accessed by contacting Warren Schmidgall, AIPC executive vice president and CFO, at 816/584-5636.

AIPC is based in Kansas City, MO, with plants strategically located in Excelsior Springs, MO, Columbia, SC, and Kenosha, WI and its first international facility near Milan, Italy. Founded in 1988, the company is one of the largest and fastest growing producers and marketers of dry pasta in North America. AIPC has rapidly established a significant market presence in North America by developing strategic customer relationships with food industry leaders that have substantial pasta requirements. The company’s approximately 550 employees produce more than 80 dry pasta shapes in three vertically integrated U.S. milling, production and distribution facilities and one Italian production facility.

American Italian Pasta Company

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