CenturyLink employees, communities raise 666,204 pounds of food and $767,219 in national food drive

MONROE, La. – CenturyLink, Inc. (NYSE:CTL, news, filings) employees and the company’s local communities collected 666,204 pounds of food and $767,219 in the 2014 CenturyLink Backpack Buddies Food Drive, which took place June 2-13 in hundreds of company locations across the country.

To further support its employees’ efforts, the CenturyLink Clarke M. Williams Foundation contributed a $1 million match to local food bank beneficiaries through the drive. This is the fifth year for CenturyLink’s nationwide drive, with more than 27 million pounds of food donated since the program’s inception.

Food banks can purchase and distribute food at a lower cost per pound than the average person could at a store. Many food banks can distribute up to six pounds of food per dollar donated. Based on this calculation, CenturyLink employees, community members and the Foundation donated a total of 11.2 million pounds of food to food banks across the country.

According to Feeding America, nearly 90 percent of children who rely on free or reduced-price meals via their schools lose that access when school is out. This means food banks are faced with an even greater need during the summer.

“We are excited to see the results of this food drive and the effort our employees, friends and neighbors made to improve the quality of life in our communities,” said Kristy LaCroix, CenturyLink community relations manager. “We hope that our annual drive will raise not only donations, but also awareness of this issue in all of our markets.”

Forty-nine million Americans, including 15.9 million children, are receiving food assistance annually. That means one in six Americans now rely on Feeding America and its nationwide network of local food banks.

About CenturyLink

CenturyLink is the third largest telecommunications company in the United States and is recognized as a leader in the network services market by technology industry analyst firms. The company is a global leader in cloud infrastructure and hosted IT solutions for enterprise customers. CenturyLink provides data, voice and managed services in local, national and select international markets through its high-quality advanced fiber optic network and multiple data centers for businesses and consumers. The company also offers advanced entertainment services under the CenturyLink® Prism™ TV and DIRECTV brands. Headquartered in Monroe, La., CenturyLink is an S&P 500 company and is included among the Fortune 500 list of America’s largest corporations. For more information, visit www.centurylink.com.