PLANO, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

It’s not every day coworkers at Rent-A-Center, Inc., headquarters can forgo their usual business attire and type away in T-shirts, jeans and tennis shoes, but then again, this wasn’t just any day.

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Rent-A-Center coworkers ditched their business attire in lieu of T-shirts today as part of their month-long North Texas Food Bank campaign. (Photo: Business Wire)

Today kicked off a month-long fundraising campaign at Rent-A-Center benefiting the North Texas Food Bank. The casual attire is a pay-to-wear perk designed to rake in donations. This year’s theme is 1950s inspired and includes a hula hoop contest along with other fundraising activities like raffle items, a ping pong tournament and Creole cuisine.

“Hunger relief is one of the three pillars from which Rent-A-Center has built its corporate giving program,” said Gina Hethcock, senior manager of public and community relations at Rent-A-Center. “No one should go hungry in this day and age and yet here we are trying to help the food bank put food in the hands of families. And we are so grateful for the opportunity to help.”

According to the North Texas Food Bank, there are more than 853,000 people in the 13-county service area that live in food-insecure households including one in every four children.

Rent-A-Center and its coworkers have donated over $800,000 to the North Texas Food Bank for the past seven years and has its sight set at reaching the $1 million mark.

“The North Texas Food Bank is so thankful for our partnership with Rent-A-Center,” said Simon Powell, Interim President and CEO of the North Texas Food Bank. “Rent-A-Center employees are incredibly passionate about the mission of the Food Bank. They not only help raise funds annually to donate to our organization--with more than 2 million meals donated to date--but they are also dedicated volunteers at our distribution center. We know we couldn’t do our important work of feeding hungry North Texans, without the support of partners like Rent-A-Center.”

The North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) is a top-ranked nonprofit hunger-relief organization with its primary distribution center in Southwest Dallas, and administrative headquarters located in the Dallas Farmers Market. NTFB provides access to more than 190,000 meals for hungry children, seniors, and families through a network of more than 1,000 programs and more than 200 Partner Agencies.

A rent-to-own industry leader, Plano, Texas-based, Rent-A-Center, Inc. is focused on improving the quality of life for its customers by providing them the opportunity to obtain ownership of high-quality, durable products such as consumer electronics, appliances, computers, furniture and accessories, under flexible rental purchase agreements with no long-term obligation.

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