For the twelfth year in a row, international relief organization Feed The Children partnered with the Sony Ericsson Open tennis tournament to distribute food and supplies benefiting thousands of South Florida children and families.  Tournament Chairman Butch Buchholz, ATP player Juan Ignacio Chela and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour player Jill Craybas were on hand to begin loading the first trucks of 14 trucks of goods slated for delivery to over 50 South Florida hunger relief agencies.

Volunteers and staff from the Sony Ericsson Open and Feed The Children distributed nearly 400,000 pounds of food, beverages, personal care products and paper goods retailing for more than $1,349,000. Additionally, Vertrue pharmacy cards worth approximately $2,000,000 were also distributed. 

Through joint efforts, Feed The Children and the Sony Ericsson Open staff have distributed 4.4 million pounds of food and supplies to South Florida families over the past 12 years.

"The 2008 Sony Ericsson Open is proud to kick off this year's tournament by giving back to those who are less fortunate," Buchholz said. "There's a saying, 'to whom much is given, much is expected.' The citizens of South Florida have been very supportive of the tournament since its inception and each year we look forward to distributing food and supplies to agencies throughout the region. Over the past 12 years we have seen our partnership with Feed the Children, under the direction of Larry Jones, grow in leaps and bounds. This year alone, the more than $1.34 million we have collected is three times more than the retail value we collected last year. In our 12 year partnership, we are proud to have supplemented close to 18 million meals to over 163,000 families."

“Hunger and poverty continues to be a problem in communities across America,” said Larry Jones, founder and president of Feed The Children. “For the past twelve years, Butch Buchholz has invited  Feed The Children to South Florida to help combat it. Thanks to the commitment of Butch and everyone at the Sony Ericsson Open, children across Florida will receive the food and supplies they desperately need.”

Several corporate partners of Feed The Children played a vital role in making the event possible

by donating distributed food and supplies.  Feed The Children and everyone at the Sony Ericsson Open extend heartfelt appreciation to Allens, Inc., American Italian Pasta Company, Atchison by BIC, Atkins Nutritionals, Inc., B&M Beans, Beech-Nut Nutrition, Bertelsman Direct North America, Bremner Food Group, Brent & Sam’s Cookies, Cadbury Adams, Campbell Soup Company, Candy Dynamics, Colomer USA, Coca-Cola, Cross Wood Associates, Custom Building, Dole Packaged Foods, Fuze Beverage, Frito Lay, Georgia Pacific, Gilster Mary Lee, Hirzel Canning, Ideasphere, Joseph’s Lite Cookies, Liberty Imports USA, O Water, Potlatch Corporation, Pepsi, Pilgrim’s Pride, Ralston Foods, Revival Soy, SchoolKidz and Staples, Trident^® Gum, Unilever, Vertrue Inc., Wrigley Jr. Co. Foundation.