Appleton, WI (November 22, 2022) – Food insecurity is defined as the lack of consistent access to enough food for an active, healthy life and it’s a growing concern in the state of Wisconsin with nearly a half million people facing hunger. Cellcom has teamed up with its tower partner Vertical Bridge to fight hunger in communities throughout northeast Wisconsin with a $15,000 donation to Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin.
“The impact of hunger on individuals, families, and the community are devastating. Too often food purchases are cut back to pay for other things like medicine, transportation, utilities, and housing. Thanks to Cellcom and Vertical Bridge, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin will be able to provide 60,000 meals right here in northeast Wisconsin and save families from having to make those tough choices,” said Patti Habeck, President and CEO at Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin.
Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin supports 154 pantries across Cellcom’s service area, distributing more than 33 million pounds of food each year.
“Cellcom is committed to supporting our neighbors in need and appreciate partners like Vertical Bridge to team up with and nonprofits like Feeding America to make the biggest impact possible in the fight against hunger,” said Brighid Riordan, CEO of Cellcom. “Food pantries are also integral to reducing food waste and its negative impact on our environment. Feeding America’s model creates a ripple effect we are proud to support.”
More than 31 percent of all food produced is wasted, equating to more than 133 billion pounds of food in landfills in the United States alone each year[1]. Food in landfills produces methane, a greenhouse gas that contributes to climate change. Feeding America partners with food manufacturers, grocery stores, restaurants and farmers to rescue high-quality foods that would otherwise go to waste and uses their expertise to get it to families in immediate need. This ultimately improves environmental sustainability.
“Cellcom is focused on reducing our negative impact on the environment and investing in projects in our communities that do the same. Food waste is a big stressor on our planet. Beyond the landfill impact, the energy and natural resources that it takes to produce, harvest and transport the food is also wasted if it is not consumed. From large food rescue initiatives like Feeding America to our individual habits, reducing food waste is a win-win effort that makes a difference for our environment and supports our communities,” said Mick O’Malley, director of sustainability at Cellcom.
Cellcom nominated Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin for a matching donation from the Vertical Bridge Charitable Network, an employee-led effort in which a committee identifies opportunities for Vertical Bridge to donate time and/or money to meaningful causes. Cellcom owns and operates its network, which includes a growing number of towers to support the data needs of customers and advanced services like 5G. Vertical Bridge manages much of Cellcom’s tower network through a master lease agreement to allow other providers to leverage Cellcom’s tower infrastructure.
About Cellcom
Cellcom is an innovative wireless company that operates its own regional network to provide service for its customer base throughout Wisconsin and Upper Michigan. The company is respected for its long-standing reputation of delivering extraordinary customer care and being a strong community partner. As a subsidiary of Nsight, Cellcom is part of a family of companies offering complete telecommunications services. Learn more at www.cellcom.com.
About Vertical Bridge
Vertical Bridge REIT, LLC is the largest private owner and operator of communications infrastructure and locations in the United States, with a portfolio of more than 318,000 sites, including over 9,000 owned and master-leased towers and the nation’s largest and tallest collection of broadcast tower sites. Based in Boca Raton, Florida, Vertical Bridge was founded in 2014 and is led by a senior management team with over 300 years of collective experience in tower infrastructure and related sectors. Vertical Bridge became the first tower company in the world to reach net-zero emissions, gaining CarbonNeutral® certification in 2020. The company was recertified in 2021. For more information, please visit https://www.verticalbridge.com/
About Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin:
Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin is the leading local hunger relief organization in the state. Founded in 1982 by the Rotary Club of Milwaukee, Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin is a local and independent member of the Feeding America network. Driven by our mission to solve hunger and our vision of a hunger-free Wisconsin, we are bringing more people together around the table to collaboratively address the root causes of hunger. Together with our network of nearly 400 partner pantries and meal sites, we serve nearly 500,000 people across 35 counties in eastern Wisconsin each year.
[1] https://feedingamericawi.org/about-us/why-it-matters/
Media Contact:
Tammy VanDenBusch
Communications Manager
(920) 617-7107
Cindy Durand
Senior Director of Marketing Communications
(920) 617-7069
