The Bengals are donating $250,000 across eight foodbanks serving Central and Southern Ohio, Southeast Indiana and Kentucky. The donation will allow these foodbanks to provide over 1 million meals to people in more than 120 counties.
"We want to help our community during these challenging times," said Bengals Executive Vice President Katie Blackburn. "We know that COVID-19 is impacting everyone in different ways. Our donation aims to help our broader region as foodbanks see increased demand for their services."
Donations will be made to the following foodbanks:
- Freestore Foodbank serving Greater Cincinnati, Northern Kentucky and Southeast Indiana
- The Foodbank Inc. serving Greater Dayton
- Shared Harvest serving Southwest Ohio
- Second Harvest serving Southwest Ohio
- Southeast Ohio Foodbank & Kitchen serving Southeast Ohio
- Mid-Ohio Foodbank serving Central Ohio
- Dare to Care serving Greater Louisville
- God's Pantry Food Bank serving Central and Eastern Kentucky
"The Bengals organization and players have been long time champions of the Freestore Foodbank's work in the tristate area," said Freestore Foodbank President & CEO Kurt Reiber. "We are grateful for their commitment to us and our surrounding Feeding America Food Bank partners during this critical time to feed kids and families affected by the COVID-19 crisis."
"We have seen an unprecedented increase of need due to COVID-19, with some counties seeing an increase of 50 percent," said God's Pantry Food Bank CEO Michael J. Halligan. "This generous donation from the Cincinnati Bengals will allow us to buy more food, which we will in turn use to help with that increased need."
The Bengals players and coaches have also been involved working with their communities during the COVID-19 crisis.
