NEWARK, NJ - United States Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Judith Enck today joined Devils Chairman & Managing Partner Jeff Vanderbeek, Devils Co-Owner Mike Gilfillan and Syd Mandelbaum, founder of Rock and Wrap it Up! to honor the New Jersey Devils with an Environmental Quality Award.
Prudential Center is one of the largest contributors to the Rock and Wrap it Up! program, standing as one of very few arenas in North America to provide food to food pantries at the culmination of every event in the building.
From October, 2010 to April, 2011, the New Jersey Devils have recovered and donated over 9,550 pounds of food, translating to roughly 7,346 meals. Preventing 9,550 pounds of food from going into landfills translates into preventing emission of 8,818 pounds of CO2e, which over the four seasons the Devils have worked with Rock and Wrap it Up!, is equivalent to nearly a day of greenhouse gases emitted on the New Jersey Turnpike.
The partnership with Rock and Wrap It Up! is League wide, with participation from each of the National Hockey League's teams. Following the Rock and Wrap it Up! Sports Wrap! model, over 160,000 meals have been recovered through the efforts of the entire NHL, keeping 102 tons of solid waste out of landfills and 169,756 pounds of CO2e out of the atmosphere.
"It is so important to help out New Jerseyians in every way possible, from making sure the air is a little cleaner to providing sustenance to those in need, especially in these hard times," said Vanderbeek.
"As Newark residents have come to know by now, there are halos around those horns, and it"s great the EPA is recognizing it," said Senator Menendez. "The NJ Devils earned this award for making sure thousands of pounds of food goes to those who need it, that would otherwise go to waste. It helps the environment, it helps the hungry - it"s a win-win. Today we can proudly say the New Jersey Devils are professional hockey's new environmentalists and humanitarians."
"The NJ Devils and Rock and Wrap It Up! have worked tirelessly to protect the environment and to ensure that all of us can look forward to a cleaner, healthier world," said Regional Administrator Judith Enck. "We can all be proud of what they have accomplished and the example they set."
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