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A Celebration of Inspiration and Hope

    WASHINGTON, May 14 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Red Cross
will honor America's Second Harvest with its prestigious Ernest P. Bicknell
Award at the organization's Heritage of Service Dinner this evening. The
Heritage of Service Dinner is a celebration to recognize the outstanding
dedication and commitment from individuals, organizations, partners and
corporations who enable the Red Cross to achieve its noble mission each
year. America's Second Harvest is being recognized for its outstanding and
generous partnership with the Red Cross in disaster response and
preparedness. This national, donor recognition event will bring together
members of Congress, military leaders, Washington dignitaries, corporate
representatives and Red Cross partners and volunteers. Accepting the award
for America's Second Harvest will be its President and CEO, Vicki Escarra.

    "This event is a wonderful opportunity to celebrate with some of our
most dedicated partners, such as America's Second Harvest," said Bonnie
McElveen-Hunter, Chairman of the Red Cross. "Partnerships are the key to
success. Working together, side by side, America's Second Harvest and the
Red Cross are able to multiply our impact, change more lives and serve
communities more effectively."

    "We are deeply honored and humbled to receive the Ernest P. Bicknell
award from the American Red Cross," said Vicki Escarra, president and CEO
of America's Second Harvest. "We have worked very closely with the Red
Cross over the years, providing disaster relief services across the
country. We treasure our partnership with them."

    In 1908, Ernest Bicknell was appointed the Red Cross National Director
with a goal of revitalizing the membership program and introducing new
reforms. He came to the Red Cross with an outstanding record as an
experienced social worker and his selection reflected the Red Cross' goal
of raising the standards of relief work. He had already been associated
with the Red Cross during the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and had been
General Superintendent of the Chicago Bureau of Charities. Able, loyal and
enthusiastic, he remained with the American Red Cross for a quarter
century. His ideas and proposals were instrumental in shaping the structure
of the organization between 1909 and 1917.

    America's Second Harvest has been instrumental in improving
preparedness and the critical delivery of disaster relief to individuals
and communities. America's Second Harvest has truly been a partner with the
Red Cross in community preparedness and disaster response through its
leadership with the National Voluntary Organizations Active in a Disaster
Mass Care Committee and its work to establish standards of care for victims
of disaster. Its network of food banks and the two billion pounds of food
and grocery products it provides annually to the people of the United
States have helped to strengthen many of America's most vulnerable
communities. The Red Cross is privileged to have a partner like America's
Second Harvest.



    President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush will serve as Honorary
Co-Chairs for the Dinner. General Richard B. Myers, USAF (RET), will serve
as the Dinner Chair. General Myers and his wife, Mary Jo Myers, will be the
emcees for the event. Preceding the dinner in the American Red Cross Hall
of Service, there will be a reception from 6:30 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. in the
American Red Cross Board of Governors Hall in Washington, D.C.

    The American Red Cross

    The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and counsels victims of
disasters; provides nearly half of the nation's blood supply; teaches
lifesaving skills; and supports military members and their families. The
American Red Cross is a charity, not a government agency, and depends on
volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its
humanitarian mission.

    America's Second Harvest

    America's Second Harvest -- The Nation's Food Bank Network is the
largest charitable domestic hunger-relief organization in the United
States. Through its network of more than 200 member food banks, America's
Second Harvest annually provides assistance to more than 25 million people
in need, including more than 9 million children and nearly 3 million
seniors in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Each
year, America's Second Harvest secures and distributes more than 2 billion
pounds of food and grocery products to support feeding programs at
approximately 50,000 local charitable agencies, including food pantries,
soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after-school programs, and Kids Cafes.
To learn more, please visit http://www.secondharvest.org.