FORT MYERS, Fla. (March 14, 2013) – Community Cooperative Ministries, Inc. will be holding a food drive as part of the JetBlue Community Corner program on Thursday, March 28, during the Boston Red Sox night game vs. the Minnesota Twins at JetBlue Park.

This is the third year the Red Sox have held this day-of-game initiative towards continuing outreach efforts with JetBlue to help raise awareness of and support for local community groups.

“We are very grateful to JetBlue and the Red Sox for their continued support of helping to feed the hungry in our area,” said Tracey Galloway, CEO of CCMI. “Many of our winter residents will be packing up and heading back up north soon, and this will be the perfect opportunity to drop off their unused nonperishable food items so those less fortunate will not go hungry.”

JetBlue is the sponsor of JetBlue Park at Fenway South, the Red Sox’s 106-acre Spring Training and Player Development Complex located at 11500 Daniels Parkway in Fort Myers.

A different nonprofit organization occupies a kiosk booth just inside the concourse off Fenway South Drive at each home game where its volunteers can distribute information to the 11,000 fans that regularly attend Red Sox Spring Training games.

“The JetBlue Community Corner initiative invites nonprofit groups to bring a small number of volunteers to a Spring Training game to distribute literature and bring awareness about their organization to fans attending a game at JetBlue Park,” said Katie Haas, senior director of Florida business operations.

“JetBlue strives to be a part of the communities we serve,” said Tracy Morgan, airport manager Fort Myers, JetBlue. “We have proudly served Lee County for more than 12 years, and we are excited about this partnership which will allow us to encourage Red Sox fans to also become engaged in this great community.”

Fans are asked to bring nonperishable food items to be dropped of at the Community Corner kiosk during the March 28 evening game. Gates opens two hours prior to game time.

A “wish list” of items requested include cornbread mix, cereal, peanut butter, packaged cookies and snacks, jelly, flavored rice bags and pasta, spaghetti and sauce, macaroni and cheese, Ramen noodles, Vienna sausages, Spam, canned meats, pop-top cans of vegetables, chili, meats and fruit, as well as pet food and non-food items including handheld can openers, Ziploc sandwich bags, diapers, bug spray, sun block and travel-size toiletries.

Nonperishable food donations can also be made daily to CCMI’s Everyday Cafés and Marketplaces located in Fort Myers at 3429 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard or in Cape Coral at 1105 Cultural Park Boulevard.

“We have more than 75,000 seasonal residents,” said Galloway. “If each one of those individuals dropped off a can of food to the CCMI, we would not be faced with turning people away hungry.”

CCMI is an innovative nonprofit 501(c)3 organization made up of social service entrepreneurs fighting to end homelessness and hunger in our community. The agency provides more than 15,000 meals each month through its Everyday Café and Marketplace and Home Delivered Meals programs. CCMI also educates 40 children in its Community Montessori Preschool, offers homeless services and comprehensive case coaching services through its United Way Resource Houses, oversees an emergency mobile food pantry and supplies weekend backpacks full of food to more than 2,500 children each school year.

CCMI serves Fort Myers and the greater Lee County area, including Bonita Springs, Cape Coral and Lehigh Acres. CCMI works in partnership with United Way of Lee, Hendry and Glades, Harry Chapin Food Bank and regional community foundations as well as collaborating with fellow community and service groups including The School District of Lee County and numerous churches, businesses and community support organizations.

For more information, call 239-332-7687 or visit www.ccmileecounty.com.