INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - A 21 News initiative to help feed the hungry in the Valley has been awarded a regional Emmy.

Project: Feed Our Valley was selected out of five nominees named by the Lower Great Lakes Chapter of The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in the category of Community Service.

Other nominees included television stations in Cleveland and Indianapolis.

The award was presented to 21 News during a ceremony on Saturday at the Bankers Life Fieldhouse,Indianapolis.

For the past eight years , 21 News has teamed up with the Second Harvest Food Bank of the Mahoning Valley to issue a “call to action” to raise food and monetary donations to help those in need in the Columbiana, Mahoning and Trumbull county areas.

The project has raised $516,969 and helped collect 526,388 pounds of food for hungry families in the Valley.

21 News would like to thank all our viewers who donated their time, funds and food products to help those who truly need them.

We are also grateful to all of the organizations who have made the project a success – Sparkle Markets and the Cafaro Foundation, just to name a few.

Second Harvest Food Bank distributes food to 153 hunger relief organizations in Mahoning, Columbiana and Trumbull counties. Organizations include church pantries, homeless shelters and soup kitchens as well as shelters for battered women and after-school programs.

To find out how you can help those in need, you can visit the following links.

Second Harvest Foodbank of the Mahoning Valley website.

Community Food Warehouse of Mercer County website