Hilary Duff Visits Hurricane Victims on First Anniversary of Storm

Press release
Source: Rogers & Cowan

Internationally celebrated multi-platinum recording artist, concert performer, actress, designer, philanthropist and business woman Hilary Duff will travel to New Orleans with Stan Curtis, Chairman of USA Harvest, to visit and aid victims of last year’s devastating Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday, August 29th, the one-year anniversary of the storm which ravaged the Gulf Coast region. Hilary’s schedule is packed with trips to elementary schools, a high school, a disaster recovery center and a rescue mission to provide inspirational words, food and comfort to the many victims of the storm.

In the last year, Hilary donated 2.5 million meals through USA Harvest to help Hurricane Katrina relief efforts. The 2.5 million meals were prepared and distributed at Salvation Army canteens throughout the Gulf Coast region. Several of Hilary’s corporate partners have provided goods for distribution to the schools, shelters and missions and the disaster relief workers Hilary will visit on her trip. These partners include Fashion Accessory Bazaar which provided 600 backpacks and school supplies, Mattel and Hasbro which provided toys and games for children affected by the disaster and Freedom Water which provided 25,000 cases of Freedom Water to schools and workers and Freedom Energy drinks to shelters and workers. In addition, Meijer Grocery Stores, Mas Tec Corporation, The Mas Family Foundation of Miami, Schenkelshultz Architecture and Sinclair Broadcast Group all made large donations to USA Harvest and Hilary’s partnership to support the recovery effort. Hilary also encouraged her fans to bring canned food to her concerts. The donated food was collected by USA Harvest and distributed to food shelters across the Gulf Coast region.

“From day one, Hilary has been there to support our efforts to aid victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma. Through her contributions, over 2.5 million meals have been distributed through Salvation Army canteens,” said Curtis. “We look forward to our trip to revisit the remarkably resilient victims of the storms and share time with them as well as provide them with more food and supplies to ensure continued growth and recovery.”

Hilary and Curtis will stop at several schools during their visit, beginning with a visit to Nelson Charter School where Hilary has been invited to make morning announcements and meet and talk with over 300 children ranging in age from four to 13 years old. Hilary, who donated 500 bottles of water recently to the school, will assist in passing out bottles of water to the children. Hilary and Curtis will also stop at the Alice M. Harte Elementary School, where First Lady Laura Bush visited earlier in the year to recognize the school’s many achievements. Hilary, who recently donated 1,000 bottles of water to the school, will serve lunch to the fourth, fifth and sixth grade classes during her visit. Hilary’s last school visit will be to Edna Karr High School, a school heavily damaged from the hurricane, where she has been invited to speak about positive role models on a “positive behavior day” the school has planned. Hilary will also greet the children and sign autographs.

Hilary and Curtis will also visit a number of rescue missions and disaster recovery centers. They will travel to Just the Right Attitude, a food pantry which recently received 7,000 cans of food from Hilary and USA Harvest, where they will place food in bags for distribution by the food pantry to the local neighborhood. Another stop will include a visit to the Salvation Army Disaster Recovery Center in Jefferson, Louisiana, which recently distributed over 600 backpacks Hilary donated for children just prior to school starting. Hilary will tour the facility to get a glimpse of the disaster recovery operation. Finally, Hilary will serve 800 dinner meals at Camp Hope Emergency Communities, which has recently received 2500 bottles of energy drink and 50,000 cans of food from Hilary and USA Harvest. Located in St. Bernard Parrish, this feeding and caring facility has been one of the true beacons of hope for the residents of one of the hardest hit areas of the Gulf Coast region.

About Hilary Duff
Hilary Duff is an internationally celebrated multi-platinum, chart-topping recording artist, concert performer, actress, designer, philanthropist and businesswoman. Hilary's recent world concert tour spanned the globe, with multi-city appearances in the U.S., Europe, Australia, Canada and Latin America. Hilary’s latest CD Most Wanted was #1 for two consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200 music chart in the U.S., #1 for two consecutive weeks on the Canadian chart and also reached top-charting success in several other countries. Her new single "Play with Fire" was just released in conjunction with her new movie Material Girls and will be included on her forthcoming new Hollywood Records CD scheduled for November release. As a designer, Hilary is actively involved with her creative director in leading the design process to expand her fashion, beauty and home products business globally, including her ‘tween label stuff by hilary duff now launching its Fall collection in nearly 7,500 stores including Wal-Mart, Kohl’s, Target, JC Penney and Sears among others, and her teen designer label hilary duff kicking off with the Fall launch of Hilary’s fragrance line from Elizabeth Arden and followed by a juniors line of apparel in 2007/08. For more information on Hilary Duff, please visit her website at www.hilaryduff.com.

About USA Harvest
In its 18 years of operation, USA Harvest has collected and distributed more than 11.7 billion pounds of food to those in need around the world. USA Harvest has grown to include 124 cities with more than 127,000 volunteers in the United States. USA Harvest is America’s largest all-volunteer food distribution organization. For more information about USA Harvest, please go to www.usaharvest.com.