October 23, 2017 – The U.S. gift and home furnishings industry is responding to the essential needs of people affected by Hurricanes Harvey and Irma and the California wildfires with LIFELINE, a national program to fund food and water provisions organized by Gift For Life and AmericasMart® Atlanta. Contributions will be distributed to people in need through and in association with Feeding America®, the nation’s largest hunger-relief charity.
Gift For Life is the partnership between the gift, home and stationery industries historically committed to raising funds supporting HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and education. AmericasMart Atlanta is the global wholesale marketplace serving gift and home furnishings retailers and designers from every U.S. state and more than 70 nations.
LIFELINE will channel monetary donations for the provision of food and water to communities impacted by the recent disasters through Feeding America member food banks. Donors can make tax-deductible credit card and e-check contributions via the secured LIFELINE page on Feeding America website www.feedingamerica.org/giftforlife. Donations by check and cash will not be accepted.
All associated with the gift and home furnishings industry—including retailers, retail buying groups, product manufacturers, product designers, sales organizations and service providers—are eligible to participate and encouraged to contribute.
AmericasMart Atlanta has initiated LIFELINE funding with a $40,000 donation and has issued a challenge to the gift and home furnishings community at large for donations in equal $40,000 increments. The challenge is effective October 23, 2017 through the 12-week LIFELINE run, which concludes January 12, 2018.
“LIFELINE engages the gift and home furnishings industry in a vital outreach mission unprecedented in scope,” notes George Kacic, Gift For Life board chairman and AmericasMart Atlanta executive vice president. “LIFELINE allows us to stay true to Gift For Life’s historical mission – HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention, education and advocacy – while also focusing the industry’s collective capacity to deliver immediate assistance to those whose lives are affected,” Kacic adds.
The LIFELINE donations page at the Feeding America website is live now at www.feedingamerica.org/giftforlife. For more information and to access a LIFELINE Q & A resource guide, email lifeline@americasmart.com.
ABOUT FEEDING AMERICA
Feeding America is the nationwide network of 200 food banks that leads the fight against hunger in the United States. Together, we provide food to more than 46 million people through 60,000 food pantries and meal programs in communities across America. Feeding America also supports programs that improve food security among the people we serve; educates the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
ABOUT GIFT FOR LIFE
Gift for Life unites the gift and home industries to raise funds for charitable causes including DIFFA: Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS, one of the largest funders of HIV/AIDS service and education programs in the U.S. The all-volunteer Gift for Life organization has donated more than $5 million since its inception in 1992. More information is available at www.giftforlife.org.
ABOUT AMERICASMART
AmericasMart Atlanta is the nation’s only global wholesale marketplace housing the world’s single-largest collection of home, gift, area rug and apparel merchandise. The largest of AmericasMart’s 16 annual Markets and shows, The Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market and The Atlanta International Area Rug Market in January and July are the ignition switch for global retailing with buyers from every U.S. state and as many as 70 countries discovering product in more than 1,500 showrooms and more than 3,000 temporary exhibiting companies. ICON HONORS, the home and gift industry’s most celebrated recognition program, is produced and staged annually by AmericasMart.
Located in downtown Atlanta, the AmericasMart complex contains more than seven million square feet of space. It’s a huge global stage on which manufacturers, designers and sales representatives unveil new lines, launch new designs and introduce new categories – all for the benefit of buyers seeking all that is fresh and first in the home, rug, gift and apparel arenas. For more information, please visit www.AmericasMart.com.
