Westerly, RI The Washington Trust Company held its 24th annual Peanut Butter Drive and collected jars of peanut butter at the bank’s 27 branch locations. Peanut butter collected from the Washington Trust Peanut Butter Drive is donated to 19 local hunger relief agencies across the bank’s footprint, and online contributions support the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, Connecticut Foodshare, and the Greater Boston Food Bank.
“Washington Trust started the Peanut Butter Drive 24 years ago and, since that time, we’ve collected 159 tons of peanut butter— enough to make 5 million peanut butter sandwiches,” said Edward Handy III, Washington Trust chairman & CEO. “Unfortunately, in today’s economic environment the need is greater than ever, so we once again are asking our friends and neighbors to donate to help feed a local family in need.”
Handy, who formerly served as the president of the board of directors at the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, provided these Food Bank statistics:
• The RI Community Food Bank network of 140 member agencies serves 80,000 individuals per month on average, a 51% increase from 2019.
• One in three households in Rhode Island are food insecure, meaning that they cannot meet their basic food needs
• 38% of households with children are at risk of hunger.
Since 2001, the Peanut Butter Drive has collected the equivalent of 159 tons of peanut butter, enough to make more than five million peanut butter sandwiches