Carrier Transicold haa announced a program to donate truck and trailer refrigeration units to individual food banks in the Feeding America network.

The program is funded by a $150,000 grant from Carrier Transicold's parent company, United Technologies, which will cover the donation and installation of refrigeration units for seven food banks.

Funds will be disbursed to Feeding America member food banks in need of a Carrier truck or trailer refrigeration unit. The food banks are located in Louisiana, South Dakota, Michigan, California, Georgia, and Nevada. They will use the funds to purchase equipment and installation from an authorized Carrier Transicold dealer.

“We take our responsibility very seriously to help preserve, protect, deliver and display the world’s food supply,” said Jon Shaw, director, global communications and sustainability, Carrier Transicold & Refrigeration Systems. “As we focus on helping emerging nations develop the cold chain as a means of getting more perishable food to hungry people, we also realize there are needs in the U.S. as well and that’s why we chose to work with Feeding America and its nationwide network of member food banks.”

Participating Carrier Transicold dealers in the 2017 program include:

• Carrier Transicold South in St. Rose, La.

• Transport Refrigeration of South Dakota in Sioux Falls, S.D.

• Carrier Transicold of Detroit in Detroit, Mich.

• Bay Area Transport Refrigeration in Hayward, Calif.

• Carrier Transicold South in Lake City, Ga.

• CT Power in North Las Vegas, Nev.

Feeding America has a combined 1,850 refrigerated trucks in its fleet, which serve 200 food banks and 60,000 agencies nationwide.

“More than 42 million people nationwide face hunger, including 13 million children,” said Bill Thomas, chief supply chain officer, product development, Feeding America. “The Feeding America network distributes billions of pounds of produce, dairy, and proteins to people in need each year so a robust cold chain is critical to our mission. With support from Carrier, we will be able to distribute more of these valuable items to help ensure that our communities have access to more healthy and nutritious food options that might otherwise end up in landfills.”

Part of the funding for the $150,000 grant came from proceeds from the book Food Foolish: The Hidden Connection Between Food Waste, Hunger and Climate Change, which was co-authored by John Mandyck, chief sustainability officer at United Technologies.

“Cold chain technologies are essential to avoid food waste and extend the world’s food supply so we can sustainably feed more people globally,” said Mandyck. “More than 1 billion metric tons of food is lost or wasted each year. This donation will simultaneously help reduce that waste while helping Feeding America in its fight against hunger.”