International Tourism Partnership member, Hilton Worldwide, have announced a multi-year partnerships with Feeding America and The Global FoodBanking Network to secure food and reduce hunger in communities where it operates around the globe.

The collaborations will enable Hilton Worldwide hotels to collect safe, surplus food from conferences and daily food and beverage operations that would otherwise be thrown away and make it available to those in need.

Feeding America and The Global FoodBanking Network will each connect Hilton Worldwide hotels with local food banks and their networks of local community agencies to facilitate food delivery to school feeding programs, food pantries, soup kitchens, hospices, after-school programs and other community programs that provide food to families in need of nourishing meals. In year one, Hilton Worldwide will pilot food donation systems in New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Orlando and Kansas City in the United States working with Feeding America. Working with The Global FoodBanking Network, the company will provide food to food banks in international markets, with initial efforts in Egypt.

‘Each year billions of pounds of food go to waste, while at the same time more than 850 million people do not have enough to eat,” said Jennifer Silberman, vice president of corporate responsibility, Hilton Worldwide. ‘For one in eight people globally, hunger is a reality, and Hilton Worldwide is committed to securing food resources where we live, work and travel. Partnering with Feeding America and The Global FoodBanking Network will help us collect safe, unused food from our hotels and distribute it to local people and organizations in need across the globe.’

Pilot activities will focus on optimizing food and beverage operations to minimize food waste, educating hotels on food banking opportunities, developing relationships between hotels and local food banks and establishing systems for donating safe and nutritious food. The partnerships will leverage key learnings from the pilot locations to expand into markets where Feeding America and Global FoodBanking Network are involved and to develop tools and resources that enable Hilton Worldwide’s more than 3,900 properties across 90 countries to connect with food donation opportunities locally.

‘The partnership with Hilton Worldwide shows how fighting hunger is a collaborative effort and not something we can solve alone,’ said Matt Knott, interim president and chief executive officer of Feeding America, the nation’s leading anti-hunger organization. ‘We have to continue to find innovative ways to make sure that people have enough food to nourish them.’

Jeffrey D. Klein, president and chief executive officer of The Global FoodBanking Network, said, ‘Our work with Hilton Worldwide takes a proactive approach to solving hunger and reducing food waste that produces greenhouse gas and contributes to global warming.  The Global FoodBanking Network is excited to help Hilton Worldwide deepen its commitment to community through this innovative collaboration.’

Hilton Worldwide will also work with Feeding America and The Global FoodBanking Network to provide volunteer opportunities with local food bank partners through its Global Team Member Volunteer Program, and will track food donations through LightStayTM, its proprietary sustainability measurement system. These donations will further contribute to Hilton Worldwide’s goal of reducing waste output and complement its partnerships with the Global Soap Project to recycle and donate hotel soap to vulnerable populations and Good360 to donate reusable goods to charitable organizations. Since 2008, the properties in the company’s portfolio have reduced waster by 23.3 percent.