Rhode Island Community Food Bank

E N G A G i N G t H E C O M M u N i t Y
A Place at the Table for Everyone
As the owner of Pinelli’s Café at Night, Bill Pinelli
is surrounded by food. However, he’s acutely
aware that for too many Rhode Islanders, the
cupboards are bare.
“I came from a poor family,” he’ll tell you. “We scrapped
for food. My siblings and I ate a lot of beans and a lot of
rice growing up.”
Bill recalls how his mother did whatever was necessary
to provide for the family. He often tells the story of how
she worked nights, but he didn’t know it until he was 8
or 9 years old. “I’d go to bed, and my older sister watched
us so mom could go to work.”
Since getting involved with the Food Bank more than
five years ago, Bill has played a key role in the planning of
several successful events. He has also solicited donations
from others in the hospitality industry, helping the Food
Bank maximize the funds generated to help the hungry.
And, you’ll always find his restaurant among the participants
at the annual Taste of the Flower Show.
Bill credits his upbringing—being taught to take care
of others—for his passion for the Food Bank. To him, food
represents family, and filling the most basic need that we
all share. The fact that many families struggle to afford
adequate food is unacceptable. “Your entire life is restructured
when you’re hungry. Without food, you can’t learn,
you can’t work. If you’re a child, you can’t play. It upsets
me to think about all the families without food in their
homes.”
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Doing Something about Nothing
In an effort to engage the entire community, young
and old, in helping the hungry, the Food Bank
launched the Nothing campaign last spring. The
campaign was produced pro-bono by NAiL, an
award-winning advertising firm in Providence, and
underwritten by the Citizens Bank Foundation.
The campaign encouraged Rhode Islanders to
do something about hunger by purchasing empty cans of Nothing
at grocery stores across the state. In doing so, the campaign confronted
head-on the pessimistic view that hunger is an unsolvable
problem.
As a multimedia campaign featuring online, radio, TV and outdoor
advertising, Nothing increased the Food Bank’s visibility and
raised awareness about the problem of hunger. To learn more
about Nothing, visit www.nothing.org.
Business and Community
Support for Nothing:
Beacon Communications and
Providence Media
Beef Films/Chop House Edit
ClearChannel Communications
Rhode Island
Customer Engagement
Strategies
Edwards Angell Palmer &
Dodge LLP
G-Media & Associates
Lamar Advertising
Pamela Harvey Design
Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP
Rhode Island Broadcasters
Association
Mark Tribe
Video Express
Warwick Mall
thanks to our retail partners:
Brigido’s Fresh Market
Clements’ Marketplace
Dave’s Marketplace
Dunkin’ Donuts
Eastside Marketplace
Whole Foods Market
Seabra Supermarkets
Venda Ravioli
Andrew Schiff, CEO of the Food Bank; Ned Handy, President, Citizens Bank, Rhode
island; Jeremy Crisp, Managing Partner, NAiL and Jewel Healy, Marketing team
Leader for Whole Foods Market celebrate the launch of Nothing.