By Fritz Edelstein
May 23, 2005

Mayors' continuing commitment to fight hunger in their cities is expanding through a partnership with the Rock and Wrap It UP! Program. Two years ago a United States Conference of Mayors policy resolution on fighting hunger in cities included a strategy to expand distribution of unserved food to soup kitchens and shelters by including a distribution requirement in catering contracts for city owned and/or operated auditorium.

Utilizing the volunteer resources of the Rock and Wrap It UP! and their experience, several mayors have now incorporated language in such contracts for unserved food collection program from rock concerts, sporting events and other special activities in municipal auditoriums and other city owned properties. The mayors in Dallas, St. Louis and Miami have led these efforts in their cities. The food collection effort has added a new component called Sports Wrap which takes unserved stadium generated food to soup kitchens that help fight hunger near the stadiums. Professional sports teams presently participating are the Detroit Tigers, New York Yankees and the New York Mets, and in the fall the New York Football Giants will be the National Football League team to participate. If mayors want to participate in this partnership with either their municipal auditoriums or their major or minor professional league teams, please contact Syd Mandelbaum at sydmandelbaum@worldnet.att.net or 516-295-0670 or 1-877-691-FOOD.