Haier America, which is headquartered in midtown Manhattan, will launch its first employee volunteer program with the Food Bank For New York City. Over the course of three weeks (August 15-Sept 2) 75 Haier employees from New York City as well as New Jersey will prepare and serve food at the Food Bank's Community Kitchen & Food Pantry in Harlem.

“As Haier has evolved over the last several years and become more engrained in the New York City landscape, we felt that it was important to give back to the community,” said Shariff Kan, President of Haier America. “The Food Bank is a wonderful organization that obviously has needs and provided us with the infrastructure to gather our employees together for a program that I expect will be just as rewarding to them as those we assist.”

“The Food Bank For New York City is very pleased to welcome Haier America to our Community Kitchen & Food Pantry in Harlem, said Lucy Cabrera, Ph.D., President and CEO of the Food Bank For New York City.  “Especially now when the Food Bank is struggling to meet the increased demand for food (up 30 percent at the Kitchen in the last fiscal year) while we are coping with the worst economic recession in decades, we are grateful for their assistance.  We could not do what we do without the support of our extraordinary volunteer network.”

A program of the Food Bank For New York City, the Community Kitchen & Food Pantry in Harlem is a full-service soup kitchen and food pantry that helps provide nearly 70,000 free meals each month to individuals and families.

 Approximately 1.4 million New Yorkers — the majority of whom are women, children, seniors, the working poor and people with disabilities — rely on soup kitchens and food pantries. With the goal of ending food poverty throughout the five boroughs, the Food Bank For New York City provides a series of income support services, and nutrition and health education programs in addition to food distribution that last year provided more than 74 million pounds of food to approximately 1,000 community-based programs citywide.

Through the umbrella program of Smarter Life, Better Planet, Haier is bringing together all of the company’s initiatives as it relates to corporate social responsibility and sustainability. With the launch of a video campaign in March 2011 to support Earth Hour and Earth Day, through the development of the Clean Start Project, which offers a forum to explore how each person can give back to their communities, Haier is seeking to build a scalable platform for socially responsible awareness and efforts that lead to a Smarter Life and a Better Planet.

About the Food Bank For New York City

Food Bank For New York City recognizes 28 years as the city’s major hunger-relief organization working to end food poverty throughout the five boroughs.  As the city’s hub for integrated food poverty assistance, the Food Bank tackles the hunger issue on three fronts — food distribution, income support and nutrition education — all strategically guided by its research. Through its network of approximately 1,000 community-based member programs citywide, the Food Bank helps provide 400,000 free meals a day for New Yorkers in need. The Food Bank’s hands-on nutrition education program in the public schools reaches thousands of children, teens and adults. Income support services including food stamps, free tax assistance for the working poor and the Earned Income Tax Credit put millions of dollars back in the pockets of low-income New Yorkers, helping them to achieve greater dignity and independence. 94% of donations go directly toward food distribution, acquisition and programs in all five boroughs of New York City.  Learn how you can help at foodbanknyc.org.

About Haier

Based in the landmark Haier Building in midtown Manhattan, Haier America is a division of the multinational Haier Group, the world’s #1 major appliance brand as ranked by Euromonitor International 2010, and a global leader in consumer electronics. Haier employs more than 60,000 people around the world and distributes products in more than 160 countries and regions with global revenues reaching $20.7 billion in 2010. Haier is an Official Marketing Partner and the Official High Definition Television of the NBA and proud supporter of the National Parks Conservation Association. For more information, please visit www.haieramerica.com. You can also become a Fan of Haier America on www.facebook.com/Haieramerica or follow Haier America via Twitter @haieramerica.