2,102 cans of non-perishable food and 500 packs of noodles were used and will be donated to Food Angel when deconstructed

HONG KONG, 15 November 2013 — Employees at BNY Mellon, in partnership with Canstruction®, recently built a giant bowl of rice and chopsticks set out of canned food at the firm’s Hong Kong office. Staff harnessed their creative skills to build the 4-foot high 6.5-foot wide sculpture to raise awareness of issues related to food waste and hunger.

The design was inspired by Andy Warhol’s artwork. BNY Mellon is the lead sponsor of the largest Andy Warhol exhibition ever held in Asia, Andy Warhol: 15 Minutes Eternal, organised by The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, USA, which has been touring the region for the last 18 months and visited Hong Kong earlier this year.

The sculpture comprises 2,102 cans of non-perishable food and 500 packs of noodles which, once the display has been deconstructed, will be donated to local Hong Kong based charity Food Angel. Food Angel collects surplus food from major hotels, restaurants and food producers in Hong Kong, prepares meal boxes and distributes them to people who are struggling with poverty and hunger.

The build took eight hours and involved over 60 employees. A short film of the sculpture being built from start to finish can be viewed via this link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=boI6ht6VhFo&feature=share&list=PLikZCvFm5ZaQcA-dgiWOaNiN68oCmM2cy

“More than 850 million people in the world don’t have enough to eat, and a staggering amount of food is lost or wasted at almost every point in the food chain. Unfortunately, no country or region is immune,” observed Steve Lackey, Asia-Pacific Chairman of BNY Mellon. “Every day, more than 3,000 tons of food waste is sent to Hong Kong’s landfills while one-fifth of the population is living in poverty and facing hunger.”

Lackey added: “BNY Mellon’s philanthropic focus is on improving local communities by partnering with organizations that provide for basic needs. Last year, BNY Mellon and its employees contributed more than $1.2 million, the equivalent of 6 million meals, to food related charities around the world. Each of us can play a role in minimising food waste through things as simple as ordering just enough at a restaurant or finishing all the rice in your bowl. As the old Chinese saying goes, there is hard work in every grain! Please do all you can to help us reduce food waste and fight hunger in Hong Kong.”

BNY Mellon employees will also be partnering with Canstruction®, an international nonprofit, to build giant structures out of canned food in five of its largest cities. The structures, which together will be built from approximately 17,000 cans of food, were chosen to spotlight different issues related to food insecurity – a bowl of rice and chopsticks (Hong Kong), fish (London), and in the United States, an apple (Boston), apple tree (New York) and a globe (Pittsburgh).All the food items used to build them will be donated to local food banks. BNY Mellon expects its structures to contribute more than 12,000 pounds of food and help its community partners provide more than 9,000 meals to people who are hungry.

Canstruction® is a non-profit organization in which teams of architects, engineers, construction firms and students compete to create giant structures made entirely out of canned food. After the event all food is donated to the local food bank. Canstruction was founded in 1992 by the Society for Design Administrators and has since raised over 21 million pounds of food for local communities around the world. Canstruction is one of the largest internationally recognized food drives of its kind. To learn more about Canstruction, visit www.canstruction.org.

BNY Mellon is a global investments company dedicated to helping its clients manage and service their financial assets throughout the investment lifecycle. Whether providing financial services for institutions, corporations or individual investors, BNY Mellon delivers informed investment management and investment services in 35 countries and more than 100 markets. As of September 30, 2013, BNY Mellon had $27.4 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration, and $1.5 trillion in assets under management. BNY Mellon can act as a single point of contact for clients looking to create, trade, hold, manage, service, distribute or restructure investments. BNY Mellon is the corporate brand of The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE: BK). Additional information is available on www.bnymellon.com, or follow us on Twitter @BNYMellon.