Press Release
Contact: Robert Caudle |
Phone: (919) 549-7500 ext. 107 |
Triangle Entrepreneurs Rise to Challenge and Feed Hungry in Central and Eastern N.C.
Entrepreneurs Raised 335,000 Pounds for CED’s Entrepreneurs’ Challenge
February 1, 2007, Research Triangle Park, NC – The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) mobilized the entrepreneurial community across the Research Triangle region throughout November and December to help feed the hungry in Central and Eastern North Carolina.
As part of the 2006 Heart of Carolina Food Drive, which was chaired by Monica Doss, CED’s president, Intersouth Partners, Square 1 Bank, Inspire Pharmaceuticals Motricity and the CED staff created the Heart of Carolina Entrepreneurs’ Challenge. Together they combined their resources to issue a $30,000 challenge to local entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial community responded generously by raising more than $37,261.50, exceeding the initial goal. In all the Entrepreneurs’ Challenge provided more than 335,000 pounds of food, close to half of the overall total amount collected for the 2006 Heart of Carolina Food Drive.
"We need creative solutions to end hunger for thousands of children, elderly and the working poor,” said Jane Cox, president and CEO of the Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC. “On behalf of everyone, thank you to all who participated in the CED’s Entrepreneurs Challenge. I believe that only innovation and love can find the cure for hunger."
The 2006 Heart of Carolina Food Drive exceeded its total goal by more than 17,000 pounds, with a grand total of 767,325 pounds of food raised. The 2006 total is an improvement of almost 300,000 pounds over 2005’s total.
“CED was pleased to see the entrepreneurial community respond so passionately to the Entrepreneurs’ Challenge,” said Monica Doss. “Entrepreneurs from throughout our region helped the Food Bank exceed a very ambitious goal in the fight against hunger.”
CED would like to send a special thanks to the top five contributors to the Entrepreneurs’ Challenge including William E. Morgenstern, RTI International, Campbell Alliance Group, Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan LLP and Sicel Technologies. CED would also like to thank all corporate and individual supporters who donated their time and money to provide food for the less fortunate:
- 3Dsolve
- AAIPharma, Inc.
- Adherex Technologies
- Advanced Liquid Logic, Inc
- Alpha-Gamma Technologies, Inc.
- Argos Therapeutics
- BB&T Insurance Services
- Campbell Alliance Group
- Capstrat
- Cato Research
- CED
- Cognosci, Inc.
- Dataflux (VFD only)
- Elinvar
- Ernst & Young
- First Citizens Bank
- Fuqua School of Business Culinary Club
- Gentris Corporation
- Good Technology
- Hutchison Law Group
- Inspire Pharmaceuticals
- Intersouth Partners
- IBM (VFD only)
- LVL7 Systems, Inc.
- Manpower
- Motricity
- NC Rural Center
- Orlan and Cornelia Johnson Family Fund of Triangle Community Foundation
- Progress Energy, IT&T Dept
- Quintiles Transnational Corp.
- RBC Centura (Pleasant Valley)
- RTI International
- SciMetrika
- Sicel Technologies, Inc.
- Silicon Valley Bank
- Smith Anderson Blount Dorsett Mitchell & Jernigan LLP
- Snelling Staffing
- Square 1 Bank
- Suntrust Bank
- The Leadership Trust
- UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
- WRAL Local Tech Wire
- Pankaj Agarwal
- Joan W. Breeze
- Mary Cantando
- Suzanne Cantando
- Tammy Carrea
- Constance H. Childress
- Hannah Clifford
- Richard Daugherty
- Robbie Hardy
- Loren B. Harrell
- Eric D. Johnson
- Bonnie Layman
- Kenneth B. Lee
- Adrienne Lumpkin
- Rajesh K. Malik, M.D.
- Larry McAdams
- Puffy McTiki
- William E. Morgenstern
- Scott Murray
- Ashlyana Nizam
- Jennifer Pierce
- Donna Peek
- James Rosen
- Elizabeth Rudd
- Glenn Seymour
- Christy Shaffer
- James R. Sponsler Jr.
- Raymond Taylor
- Kailas Thakker
- Paul Ulanch
- Glenn Weingarth
About CED: The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED) is a private, non-profit organization formed in 1984 to identify, enable and promote high growth, high impact entrepreneurial companies and to accelerate the entrepreneurial culture of the Research Triangle and North Carolina. Headquartered in the Research Triangle with a divisional office in Wilmington, CED is the largest and oldest entrepreneurial support organization in the nation with more than 4,000 members representing over 1,100 entrepreneurial companies, financiers and professional firms. CED provides education, mentoring and capital formation resources to new and existing high-growth entrepreneurs through annual conferences, seminars, workshops and programs on entrepreneurial management and finance. www.cednc.org
About the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina: The Food Bank of Eastern & Central North Carolina is a nonprofit organization that provides food for people at risk of hunger in 34 counties in central and eastern North Carolina. The Food Bank serves a network of more than 890 partner agencies offering soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, and programs for children and adults. In fiscal year 2005-2006, the Food Bank distributed more than 31.4 million pounds of food and non-food essentials through these agencies. Sadly, hunger remains a serious problem in central and eastern North Carolina. In these counties, more than 400,000 struggle each day to provide enough food for their families. www.foodbankcenc.org
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