Sodexho Foundation's Feeding Our Future Summer Feeding Program Kicks Off in 16 Cities

GAITHERSBURG, MD, June 27, 2005 - As the summer begins and the school year ends, millions of school-aged children in cities across the U.S. who depend on free or reduced-price lunches during the school year will not have access to nutritious meals. To help bridge this gap, the Sodexho Foundation, the independent, charitable organization of Sodexho USA (NYSE:SDX), will providing 240,000 free lunches to children through its summer feeding program, Feeding Our Future. Created in 1997, Feeding Our Future provides free, nutritious lunches to children who are at risk for hunger during the summer months.

“Nearly 16 million children receive free or reduced cost meals during the school year and yet only 2.9 million of these kids receive meals during the summer months,” said Stephen J. Brady, president of the Sodexho Foundation. “As the nation's leading food service provider to public schools throughout this country, we see first hand the importance of helping to ensure that children have access to free meals each summer.”

The Feeding Our Future program will launch in six new cities this summer including Honolulu, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, Oklahoma City and Seattle. In addition to the six new locations, Feeding Our Future will also operate in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Fort Worth, Texas, Nashville, Tenn., New York, Philadelphia, San Jose, Calif. and Washington D.C.

The Sodexho Foundation provides grants to local Sodexho USA accounts to purchase food for the meals and local Sodexho employees donate time and labor to prepare the meals each day. Employees work closely with local community organizations who distribute the meals to children at feeding sites in each city. This year Feeding Our Future will provide more than 240,000 meals at more than 50 feeding sites across the country.

The Sodexho Foundation (www.helpstophunger.org) is an independent charitable organization that is leading the fight against hunger by supporting initiatives that focus on eliminating the root causes of hunger in the US. Administrative costs are paid by Sodexho USA to ensure that all money raised is directed to those in need.

Sodexho USA (www.sodexhoUSA.com) is the leading provider of food and facilities management in the United States, with $6 billion in annual revenue and 120,000+ employees. Sodexho USA offers innovative outsourcing solutions in food service, housekeeping, grounds keeping, plant operations and maintenance, asset management, and laundry services to more than 6,000 corporations, health care, long term care and retirement centers, schools, college campuses, military and remote sites in North America. Headquartered in Gaithersburg, MD, Sodexho USA proudly serves as the official food service provider for the US Marine Corps.