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Gift for Life announced a partnership with Gift & Home Trade Association (GHTA) to host a fundraiser for World Central Kitchen during this week’s GHTA Annual Conference, Nov. 3-4 online. All funds raised will benefit World Central Kitchen’s programs addressing crisis-related hunger relief as an extension of Gift for Life’s ongoing “Feed the Hungry. Feel the Good” campaign.

“Gift for Life has had a long partnership with GHTA and we are thrilled to partner with this vital organization again to directly address food insecurity and hunger relief in our communities,” said Cole Daugherty, chair of the Gift for Life board.

On Nov. 3, the opening day of the GHTA Annual Conference, Daugherty will speak about Gift for Life’s current focus on hunger relief and its designation of World Central Kitchen as its primary beneficiary through 2022.

“An important part of our Annual Conference is the opportunity to give back, and through the generosity of our industry, we are already one-third of the way to our $3,000 fundraising goal,” said Laurie Burns, executive director of GHTA. “Our partnership with Gift for Life creates a unique way for gift and home industry leaders to join together for the common good. We invite all 2021 GHTA Annual Conference participants to join us in supporting this worthy cause.”

To donated to GHTA’s World Central Kitchen fundraising campaign, visit: https://donate.wck.org/GHTA.

GHTA was formed in 2000, as the gift and home industry’s non-profit professional trade association. The Association was designed to help and encourage vendors, sales agencies, industry affiliates and retailers to work together, improving relationships and making business better by providing members with the opportunity to exchange ideas and network with industry leaders. The Association’s mission is to create a national forum connecting industry leaders in their pursuit of ideas, innovations, and best practices to advance business progress. For more information about GHTA, visit www.giftandhome.org.

Founded in 2010 by Chef José Andrés, World Central Kitchen (WCK) uses the power of food to nourish communities and strengthen economies in times of crisis and beyond In 2020, with COVID-19 straining traditional food security safety nets like school feeding programs, city services and food banks, WCK pivoted to safely distribute individually packaged, fresh meals in communities that need support and launched the Restaurants for the People program to scale nationwide. This program meets critical needs on two fronts: buying meals directly from restaurants and delivering them to Americans who need help. To date, the program has worked with 2,500 restaurants to serve over 12 million restaurant meals and have disbursed more than $135 million dollars directly to restaurants owners in 400 cities across 35 states. For information, visit www.wck.org.

Gift for Life was founded by Peter Schauben of Appleman Schauben in 1992 in response to the tragic loss of industry lives to AIDS. The organization’s first meeting at the National Stationery Show brought together a cross-section of the industry’s leading publishers, market centers, sales reps, manufacturers and retailers – all willing to convene and work together towards a common goal. Since that time, Gift for Life has raised nearly $6 million for AIDS research, education, treatment and care through nationwide at-market events, cause marketing programs and direct donations. With COVID-19 temporarily causing cancelation of in-person events at industry markets, Gift for Life has pivoted towards online digital events for the balance of 2021, with a specific emphasis on COVID-related hunger relief. For more information, visit www.giftforlife.org.