Dominick's and ABC 7 Chicago Team Up for Annual Holiday Food Drive in an Effort to 'Gain a Million Pounds' for Greater Chicago Food Depository

Dominick's and ABC 7 Chicago Team Up for Annual Holiday Food Drive in an Effort to 'Gain a Million Pounds' for Greater Chicago Food Depository

ABC 7's Tracy Butler Helps Effort With Live Reports From Three Dominick's Stores, Dec. 6

CHICAGO, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- Dominick's Finer Foods and ABC 7 Chicago are rolling out the food collection barrels and decking Depository Dollars near check-out counters for their annual Dominick's & ABC 7 Chicago Holiday Food Drive to benefit the Greater Chicago Food Depository. ABC 7 meteorologist Tracy Butler will help focus attention on the critical need to help fight hunger, with live reports and weathercasts from three area Dominick's stores on Tuesday, December 6.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040512/CGW059LOGO )

The eight-week event to "Gain A Million Pounds" runs from Nov. 8 through Jan. 2, 2006. Last year, the food drive collected the equivalent of more than 1 million pounds of food that benefited less fortunate men, women and children. This year, the goal is to top the record-breaking one million pounds mark so that other people may enjoy the bounty of the season.

During this effort to fight hunger across Cook County, individuals can drop off non-perishable food items at the ABC 7 Chicago lobby, at 190 N. State Street, or at any local Dominick's location or by making a donation to the Greater Chicago Food Depository through Depository Dollars, available at the check-out counters of any Chicagoland Dominick's store in $1, $2 and $5 denominations.

A Virtual Food Drive will also be included on the ABC 7 Web site at http://www.abc7chicago.com/ . The Virtual Food Drive appears similar to Web sites for online retailers, where Food Drive supporters can "buy" food items for donation to the Food Depository. All money raised from the Virtual Food Drive will be used to purchase high-quality, nutritious food needed by men, women and children in Cook County.

The Greater Chicago Food Depository is Cook County's food bank, a non- profit food distribution center that provides food to more than 91,000 people each week through a network of 600 soup kitchens, food pantries and shelters. Every dollar donated can provide the equivalent of approximately four nutritious meals to hungry men, women and children in Cook County.

Dominick's has scheduled a number of in-store promotions surrounding the food drive. For more information, visit http://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/ and click on the "Current Promotions" page. ABC 7 Chicago's Meteorologist Tracy Butler will bring her weather report to three area Dominick's Finer Foods Stores on Tuesday, December 6.

Additionally, Tracy Butler and Bill Campbell, host and producer of ABC 7's "Chicagoing," will appear in public service announcements supporting the food drive. Butler and Campbell have spearheaded the public service campaign for the Holiday Food Drive since 1999.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20040512/CGW059LOGO
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Greater Chicago Food Depository

CONTACT: Ruth E. Igoe of Greater Chicago Food Depository,
+1-773-843-2843, reigoe@gcfd.org ; Wynona Redmond of Dominick's Finer Foods,
+1-630-891-5175, wynona.redmond@safeway.com ; or Jayme Nicholas of ABC 7,
+1-312-750-7254, jayme.a.nicholas@abc.com

Web site: http://www.abc7chicago.com/
http://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/

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