Newark, DE – June 13, 2014 — Bloom Energy and the Food Bank of Delaware officially marked the opening of the “Gardens at Bloom” at the Bloom Energy Manufacturing Center in Newark, Delaware.
State Senator Bryan Townsend, New Castle County Councilwoman Lisa Diller, City of Newark Mayor Polly Sierer and City Manager Carol Houck, along with Food Bank of Delaware President and CEO Patricia Beebe joined the Bloom Energy Delaware team to celebrate the completion of the first community garden at a Delaware business in support of the Food Bank. The over 200-square-foot garden was built by Bloom Energy employees and utilized scrap materials from the manufacturing facility. Bloom Energy volunteers will maintain the garden for year round production of produce.
The Food Bank of Delaware supports local programs in all three Delaware counties including free summer meals, low and no-cost food programs and emergency food. Approximately 17,500 different people receive food assistance through the Food Bank of Delaware’s network of hunger-relief partners in any given week, serving more than 240,000 people each year.
“As our team here in Newark continues to grow and become a greater part of the Newark community, we are proud to join in support with the Food Bank,” Bloom Energy’s Vice President for Operations, Barry Sharpe said. “With the open space we have on site, along with creating ways to recycle extra pallet material, partnering with the Food Bank seemed only natural.”
”We are thrilled to be partnering with Bloom Energy on this important community garden,” said Food Bank of Delaware President and CEO. “Produce grown here will be distributed directly to Delawareans struggling to put meals on the table. We are hoping that more local businesses will follow Bloom Energy’s lead and grow a garden to benefit Delawareans.”
Senator Townsend, Newark, had this to say, “I am excited to see Bloom Energy partnering with the Food Bank of Delaware. The fruits of this garden project will be much more than the produce grown — it will be the knowledge that Bloom is a burgeoning corporate citizen in Delaware, and able and willing to work with the Food Bank to provide long-term support to those Delawareans most in need.”
About the Food Bank of Delaware
The Food Bank of Delaware distributes millions of pounds of products each year to its network of 477 hunger-relief program partners throughout the state and also provides thousands of meals a month for children through the After-School Nutrition Program, the Summer Food Service Program and the Backpack Program. The Food Bank’s hunger-relief programs directly provide for 241,600 Delawareans at risk of going without meals each year. For more information about the Food Bank of Delaware, visit www.fbd.org or call (302) 292-1305.
About Bloom Energy
Bloom Energy was founded in 2001 with a mission to make clean, reliable energy affordable for everyone in the world. Bloom Energy Servers are currently producing power for many Fortune 500 companies including Google, Walmart, AT&T, Staples, The Coca-Cola Company, as well as notable non-profit organizations such as Caltech and Kaiser Permanente. Bloom Energy has more than 100 MW of Bloom Energy Servers installed in the United States. The company is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and has a growing manufacturing center in Newark, Delaware. For more information, visit www.bloomenergy.com.