Genesee Valley Center in partnership with The Food Bank of Eastern Michigan and WSMH Fox 66 is pleased to announce their participation in the Community Penny Garden.
For the entire month of July, all monies collected in the Genesee Valley Center fountains (located in Center Court and the JCPenney Court) will be donated to the Penny Garden. Mall Walkers, staff, patrons and area residents are asked to throw in their coins which will go towards feeding the hungry in our community. Genesee Valley Center is open Monday – Saturday from 10 a.m. – 9 p.m. and Sunday from noon until 6 p.m.
The Penny Garden proceeds will go towards the Kid’s Backpack Program, providing weekend nutritional food to children in need; the Senior Box Program giving low income senior citizens an additional 50+ lbs of food each month, or Mobile Food Pantries, that reach out to out neighborhoods with the most need and distributes food to hundreds of hungry citizens.
With the USDA reporting the worst food inflation our country has experienced in more than two decades, the cost of staples like milk and bread are up by as much as 14 percent. In fact, according to the Labor Department, April saw the biggest jump in food prices in 18 years. At the same time, workers´ average weekly earnings, adjusted for inflation, dropped for the seventh straight month. Need is at an all time high.
In Michigan, it is estimated a million people in any given year, need help with food and go to a local emergency food provider for help. Over 400 local agencies rely on the Food Bank of Eastern Michigan to stock their shelves.. Reaching our goal, the Food Bank’s $1 = $14 leveraging ability will enable us to put $1,050,000 worth of food into the community
Kettering University Students from the real SERVICE club designed the structure to hold our goal of $75,000 in pennies. The structure, located at The Food Bank of Eastern Michigan. 2312 Lapeer Rd. Flint, MI is open to the public, Monday through Friday from 8:00 a. m. until 4:00 p.m.
The Penny Garden is in celebration of the new Thomas Landaal Food Recovery Center, dedicated, in honor of Mr. Landaal, the President of Landaal Packaging who passed away last December. The Recovery Center will hold an additional 26 semi-trailers of frozen and cooler space. The Food Bank of Eastern Michigan will be forever grateful for the generosity and leadership of Mr. Landaal.
Interested participants may contact Genesee Valley Center at 810-732-4000 or The Food Bank of Eastern Michigan at 239-4441.
Genesee Valley Center
Located in Flint, Michigan, Genesee Valley Center is a 1,273,000 square foot (regional) shopping center with 130 stores including anchors Macy’s, JCPenney, Sears and Burlington Coat Factory. Genesee Valley Center is managed by Jones Lang LaSalle.
About Jones Lang LaSalle
In the United States, Jones Lang LaSalle Retail is the largest third-party shopping center manager with a 45-million-square-foot portfolio of more than 95 regional malls, grocery-anchored strip centers, power centers, lifestyle centers, ground-up development projects, mixed-use centers and transportation terminals across 31 states and the Caribbean. Jones Lang LaSalle (NYSE: JLL), the only real estate money management and services firm named to FORTUNE magazines “100 Best Companies to Work For” and Forbes magazines “400 Best Big Companies”, has a portfolio of over 1 billion square feet of property under management worldwide, including more than 280 shopping centers on four continents. For more information on Jones Lang LaSalle Retail, visit www.jllretail.com.
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