MIAMI -- Prior to Sunday's SiriusXM All-Stars Futures Game at Marlins Park, Marlins president David Samson and senior VP of communications and broadcasting P.J. Loyello presented Feeding South Florida with a check on the field for the $100,000 Charity Partner Anniversary Gift.
Established in 2012, the Marlins Charity Partner Empowerment Fund has awarded gifts to nonprofit organizations focused on impacting the local community. Since its inception, 16 organizations have been selected as partners and a total of $1.5 million has been invested in these organizations.
"In celebration of the fifth anniversary of Marlins Charity Partners, we are proud to announce a special $100,000 gift that will be awarded to Feeding South Florida," Samson said. "During our inaugural season at Marlins Park, we made a pledge to partner with nonprofit organizations to serve South Florida's youth through unique and innovative programming."
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The gift will allow Feeding South Florida to buy a new refrigerator-tractor trailer to distribute an additional 3 million pounds of food per year throughout South Florida.
It was made possible thanks to the generosity of Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria and Marlins players Giancarlo Stanton, Christian Yelich, Dee Gordon, Martin Prado, Edinson Volquez, Brad Ziegler, Wei-Yin Chen and Junichi Tazawa.
"Feeding South Florida is incredibly grateful for this generous gift from the Marlins Foundation," President and CEO Paco Vélez said. "The Marlins investment gives Feeding South Florida the opportunity to increase operational capacity, thereby giving us the ability to put healthy food on the tables of families throughout South Florida."
Founded in 1981 as the Daily Bread Food Bank, Feeding South Florida is the leading domestic hunger relief organization serving Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties.
As the sole Feeding America food bank serving the region, Feeding South Florida distributes 44 million pounds of food annually to more than 700,000 individuals in need of assistance through direct service programs and a network of nearly 400 nonprofit partner agencies.
On Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET, tune in to the 2017 All-Star Game presented by Mastercard live on FOX, and during the game visit MLB.com to submit your choice for the Ted Williams Most Valuable Player Award presented by Chevrolet via the 2017 MLB All-Star Game MVP Vote. The 88th All-Star Game, in Miami, will be televised nationally by FOX, in Canada by Rogers Sportsnet and RDS, and worldwide by partners in more than 160 countries via MLB International's independent feed. ESPN Radio and ESPN Radio Deportes will provide national radio coverage of the All-Star Game. MLB.com, MLB Network and SiriusXM will also provide comprehensive All-Star Week coverage. For more information, please visit allstargame.com.