One out of every six Americans doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from¹. Panera has been donating unsold bread and baked goods to local organizations for 25 years, and also works with our customers to donate funds to numerous local hunger relief entities. We wondered if we could do better. In 2010 the Panera Bread Foundation started opening Panera Cares® community cafes which give local communities the opportunity to share in the responsibility of supporting each other and help raise awareness of food insecurity. These non-profit cafes offer a dignified dining experience in an uplifting environment, whether or not a person can pay.

That led us to wonder what else we could do on an even broader basis. We believed we could use our resources, scale and expertise to go beyond writing a check and provide our quality, nutritious food to those facing food insecurity across the country. In a first-of-its-kind effort, Panera and our foundation have teamed up with several of our key soup providers to offer Panera® soup to those in need across America. Through Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger-relief charity, participating member food banks will distribute over half a million servings of Panera soup, as well as receive local funds, starting this November.

Wondering how you can help? It’s as easy as donating in one of the Panera Cares Community Breadboxes™ by the registers in participating Panera Bread® bakery-cafes the next time you visit. Your contributions could become a bowl of hot soup -- and a helping hand -- to those in need.