New $2.12 Million Grant Expands Morgan Stanley’s Support to Feeding America During COVID-19 and Builds Upon Efforts to Help Improve Access to Food for Children and Families in Need Across the United States

Morgan Stanley Foundation today announced a donation of $2.12 million to Feeding America®, including a $1.94 million grant to 28 member food banks across the United States to provide families with children the ability to choose from available foods or food boxes at pantries or program sites. The funds will provide a unique opportunity for local food banks to incorporate elements of choice to food distributions, while still maintaining safety protocols due to the coronavirus pandemic. The choice model provides more healthy options and ensures families have access to foods aligned with their preferences and dietary requirements.

Feeding America projects that approximately 42 million people, including 13 million children, could face hunger this year in the U.S. due to COVID-19. During the first twelve months of the pandemic, Feeding America member food banks saw an estimated 55 percent increase in the number of people seeking food assistance. In the early days of the pandemic, roughly 4 in 10 people visiting food banks were seeking help for the first time.

"For 60 years, the Morgan Stanley Foundation has been dedicated to ensuring children received the healthy start to life they deserve – and ensuring they have access to healthy and nutritious food is a crucial part of that commitment,” said Joan Steinberg, Global Head of Philanthropy at Morgan Stanley. “Given the challenges that we’ve seen exacerbated by the pandemic over the past year, we are pleased to build upon our decade long partnership with Feeding America to help fight hunger through this impactful choice model in the communities where we live and work.”

Morgan Stanley has a long-standing commitment to helping communities facing hunger and has donated more than $38 million to the Feeding America network of food banks in the last decade. This is the second grant in a four-year commitment to optimize flexibility for food banks through different choice models and ultimately provide healthier meals to more children and families for greater outcomes.

The following Feeding America member food banks are recipients of the latest Morgan Stanley Foundation grants:

To learn more about Morgan Stanley’s giving back efforts, please see here.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a leading global financial services firm providing investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services. With offices in more than 41 countries, the Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. For more information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.

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