NATIONAL URBAN LEAGUE GROUPS CREATE NEW INITATIVE TO END WORLD HUNGER THROUGH VOLUNTEERISM AND EDUCATION

Starting Monday, Oct. 25, the National Urban League Young Professionals (NULYP), the National Council of Urban League Guilds (NCULG), both auxilary organziations of the National Urban Leuge, kick off National Day of Empowerment, a new initiative that will help spread a message to end world hunger in America during World Hunger Month sponsored by Yum! Brands.

This combined effort of the Urban League family will feed and teach communities to fish out the services offered to them through their local Urban League affiliate. Additionally, volunteers will be stationed at identified local food shelves where nonperishable items will be boxed and distributed to invidividuals in need.

“The National Urban League is excited to introduce this new initiative,” said Marc H. Morial, President and CEO, National Urban League. “This initiative brings together our two auxillairies, the Guild and the Young Professionals, who are joining forces to empower communities across this country. We are also thrilled to have the support of Yum! Brands for this inaugral endeavor. Yum!’s support of the National Day of Empowerment and the National Urban League is greatly valued and appreciated.”

This week, chapters across the country will be volunteering at local food shelves and collecting nonperishable items and monetary donations. In addition, volunteers will package and distribute food to families in need within their community.

“Yum! Brands is proud to support the National Urban League Young Professionals’ National Day of Empowerment to raise awareness of the hunger issue in America,” said Richard Abraham-Rugnao, Senior Manager of Government Relations and Global Diversity, Yum! Brands. “As the world’s largest restaurant company, we are committed to finding a meaningful solution to this critical problem.”

The NCULG and the NULYP are volunteer auxiliaries of the National Urban League. The chapters that support these auxiliaries and the NUL contribute thousands of volunteer hours annually.

“The National Council of Urban League Guilds is thrilled to participate in this first-ever National Day of Empowerment,” said Frankie Brown, president of the NCULG. “Our 58 chapters have worked diligently in partnership with the NULYP and look forward to not only the success of this National Day of Empowerment but the proliferation of this program and this partnership for many years to come.

NULYP President Barton J. Taylor agreed. Taylor represents 55 chapters of the NULYP, with membership of over 4300 young professionals, ages 21-40. “For seven years, the NULYP has participated in a National Day of Service, held in the spring,” said Taylor. “As such, when the idea of a fall National Day of Empowerment was first presented, it marked an opportunity to bridge the historic Urban League Guilds and the up and coming Urban League Young Professionals auxiliaries. Not only does it increase the service opportunities for our chapters in their respective communities, but it gave us a chance to work together, side by side, generation by generation under the Urban League mantra, to address the ongoing epidemic of world hunger, which knows no age, location, or color.”

The New York Urban League Young Professionals chapter is proud to host the kick-off event on Oct. 30. From noon to 3 p.m., volunteers will sort canned goods and pack pantry bags at The Nourishing Kitchen of New York City, 281 Pleasant Avenue at East 115th in East Harlem. The Nourishing Kitchen is a non-profit community food center reaching the community of East Harlem and beyond through free (and healthy) hot meal programs, basic nutrition classes, and junior/teen/senior chef programs.

For more information on the National Day of Empowerment, please contact Erica Carver, NULYP Program Chair at 612.747.4718 or ewcarver@comcast.net.

The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment in order to elevate the standard of living in historically underserved urban communities. Founded in 1910 and headquartered in New York City, the National Urban League spearheads the efforts of its local affiliates through the development of programs, public policy research and advocacy. Today, there are more than 100 local affiliates in 36 states and the District of Columbia, providing direct services that impact and improve the lives of more than 2 million people nationwide. For more information, go to www.nul.org/ www.iamempowered.com.

Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Ky., is the world’s largest restaurant company in terms of system restaurants with more than 37,000 restaurants in more than 110 countries and territories. In 2007, the Company launched World Hunger Relief, the world’s largest private sector hunger relief effort to raise awareness, volunteerism and funds to benefit the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and other hunger relief agencies. In addition, for more than 10 years, the Company has donated prepared food annually to the underprivileged in the United States.

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