NEW YORK, April 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- GENYOUth, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to creating healthier school communities, announced today that the number of school grant applications to its COVID-19 Emergency School Nutrition Fund now exceeds 10,000 with $30 million in requested funding. 

While 124,000 U.S. schools are closed, nine out of 10 public schools are maintaining their school meal operations. Through partnerships across the public and private sectors, GENYOUth's response to the Coronavirus Global Pandemic has been focused on the 30 million children who rely on school meals daily, and now millions more due to COVID-19. The national nonprofit organization called on leading companies and organizations to answer the demand for support by marshaling collective resources and expertise to help schools at this urgent time.

"I have been working closely with GENYOUth for well over five years and in every case, they have answered my calls for help, including the installation of Grab-and-Go breakfast carts in schools throughout South Florida," said Alberto M. Carvalho, Superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools. "During this crisis, they are moving quickly, as always, to identify and address the biggest challenges that our schools are facing."

GENYOUth COVID-19 Emergency School Nutrition Fund 
Launched on March 30^th to provide school nutrition professionals with the urgent funds needed to purchase resources and equipment for the daily distribution of vital school meals, GENYOUth's fund now reports grant requests from over 10,000 U.S. schools.

Since the COVID-19 Emergency School Nutrition Fund launched, GENYOUth has provided $5 million in cash and in-kind resources to over 6,000 schools, thanks in large part to the support of America's dairy farmers, corporations, foundations, influencers and individuals. Schools have requested funding for the following items: transportation / serving food (28%), cold storage / coolers for perishables (23%), sanitation (22%), stipends for additional help (12%), meal preparation / grab and go containers (9%) and other essential items (6%).

"As a school nutrition director, I have seen first-hand the impact that COVID-19 has had on schools' ability to deliver meals to students. Those at ground zero need everyone's help and we thank GENYOUth, the School Nutrition Foundation and others who have stepped up at this vital time to support our school nutrition professionals," said Gay Anderson, President of the School Nutrition Association.

"In just one month, we have been overwhelmed by the level of need. In our 10 years at GENYOUth, we have never witnessed this degree of pressure on our school buildings for feeding. We have made progress in meeting their needs thanks to our incredible partners and yet we know there's a lot more work to do," said Alexis Glick, CEO of GENYOUth. "To truly feed the need, we have to urgently accomplish three things. One, ensure that every frontline school nutrition professional has the equipment they need to feed our nation's kids. Two, rally more business leaders and individuals to continue to put their hearts in their hands for schools' sake to help us feed our nation's kids. And three, provide kids and families with the know-how and capability to access food and critical resources to help them navigate through this pandemic and beyond."

SAP4Kids National Resource Locator
GENYOUth and SAP, the market leader in enterprise application software, have partnered to create SAP4Kids, which combines SAP's technology and GENYOUth's relationships with school communities to develop a simple process that connects needs with resources. Through an easy-to-use, mobile friendly web application, SAP4Kids enables families to identify local school feeding sites and other available resources on an intuitive resource locator map. Over 26,000 feeding sites across all 50 states and the District of Columbia are included in the map, with that number growing daily through crowd-sourced information and organizational adoption.

"Families are experiencing major disruptions to their lives, whether it be through school closures, layoffs, or furloughs due to COVID-19," said DJ Paoni, President of SAP North America and member of GENYOUth's Board of Directors. "As a result, the simple act of putting food on the table is something many people are struggling to do for their families. It's important we connect people to the resources they need now, and SAP4Kids will help people facing food insecurity during this difficult time find what they need for their families safely and easily."

SAP4Kids will also use the SAP Ariba platform to identify needs that big companies can fulfill. For example, SC Johnson, one of the world's leading manufacturer of products for home storage, donated $1 million in Ziploc bags to Chicago and Little Rock public schools for their grab and go delivery of school meals. And other leading companies including Voss and Thermos donated their products to aid school support for kids and families.

Support from The Rockefeller Foundation
Recognizing the substantial need in communities across the nation, The Rockefeller Foundation is funding GENYOUth's COVID-19 Emergency School Nutrition Fund to support rural and suburban schools and will also help drive adoption of the SAP4Kids tools.

"Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools were feeding 30 million children daily, and this need is now growing exponentially across the country. We're proud to support GENYOUth in their efforts to ensure that families can access the nourishing meals they need," said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation.

"At GENYOUth, we recognize no one of us can do this alone," said Glick. "Partnerships are critical to our ability to attack the growing chasm of need in America. With the incredible support of SAP and the Rockefeller Foundation and our partners at USDA, the School Nutrition Association, The School Superintendents Association, and many more, we will solve the urgent and growing need to feed our nation's kids and get their families the information and resources critical to their daily lives."

For more information about SAP4Kids and the Resource Locator Map, visit  www.sap.com/sap4kids

To make a donation and learn more about GENYOUth's For Schools' Sake – Help Us Feed Our Nation's Kids campaign, visit www.genyouthnow.org/donate or text SCHOOLS to 20222.

About GENYOUth
GENYOUth is a 501c3 nonprofit organization that creates healthier school communities.  We convene a network of private and public partners, including Fortune 100 companies and foundations, to raise funds for youth wellness initiatives that give youth the inspiration, motivation and programs to be healthy high-achieving students. GENYOUth's flagship program, Fuel Up to Play 60, enrolls over 73,000 U.S. schools, reaching over 38 million students. Our school nutrition grants increase access to healthy school meals among food insecure students. NFL FLAG-In-School is GENYOUth's fastest growing program with over 20,000+ school communities reaching over 11 million students while AdVenture Capital brings out the entrepreneurial spirit and creativity of students with the support of corporate mentors to solve real world problems.  For more information about GENYOUth, visit www.genyouthnow.org.

About SAP
SAP is the market leader in enterprise application software, helping companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world's transaction revenue touches an SAP system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers' businesses into intelligent enterprises. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables our customers to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, SAP helps the world run better and improves people's lives.

About The Rockefeller Foundation 
The Rockefeller Foundation advances new frontiers of science, data, and innovation to solve global challenges related to health, food, power, and economic mobility. As a science-driven philanthropy focused on building collaborative relationships with partners and grantees, The Rockefeller Foundation seeks to inspire and foster large-scale human impact that promotes the well-being of humanity throughout the world by identifying and accelerating breakthrough solutions, ideas, and conversations. For more information, sign up for our newsletter at rockefellerfoundation.org and follow us on Twitter @RockefellerFdn.

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SOURCE GENYOUth