Harvesters—The Community Food Network to Benefit from Donations

IRVING, Texas – The Big 12 Conference announced today that Compass Minerals will serve as a proud partner of the 2020 Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships held in Kansas City.

As a complement to its association with the Conference Basketball Championships, Overland Park, Kan.-based Compass Minerals will serve as presenting sponsor of the first-ever Big 12 Basketball Food Drive. All food donations received during the men’s and women’s championships will be directly provided to locally based Harvesters—The Community Food Network. The Big 12 men’s games will be held in Sprint Center, March 11-14, while the women’s games will be held at Municipal Auditorium, March 12-15.

“At Compass Minerals, we take our responsibility as a good corporate citizen very seriously. Part of that commitment means engaging with community partners for positive change in areas where our employees live and work,” said Kevin S. Crutchfield, Compass Minerals president and CEO. “We’re thrilled to partner with the Big 12 Conference and Harvesters in the fight against hunger.”

Fans are encouraged to bring nonperishable food items with them to the Compass Minerals and Harvesters display in one of two locations: Fan Fest on Grand Blvd. directly in front of the Sprint Center or Barney Allis Plaza in front of Municipal Auditorium. With any donation to Harvesters during the tournament, fans also will have a chance to win tickets to the men’s or women’s championship games. There will be an “Assist Fighting Hunger” in-game promotion at both Sprint Center and Municipal Auditorium during the games, and fans will notice reminders to bring donations through messaging on Big 12 Conference platforms. Notably, sponsor Compass Minerals will donate $25 up to $10,000 for every assist recorded during the men’s and women’s championships to Harvesters.

“Through our Phillips 66 Big 12 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships, we’ll be able to provide much-needed food and monetary donations to Harvesters, a worthy beneficiary in Kansas City,” said Big 12 Conference Commissioner Bob Bowlsby. “We encourage our loyal fan base to remember this simple gesture of bringing food donations with them to Fan Fest. It will be life-changing for many people in the region.”

Harvesters—The Community Food Network is a regional food bank serving a 26-county area of northwestern Missouri and northeastern Kansas. Harvesters provides food and related household products to more than 760 nonprofit agencies including emergency food pantries, community kitchens, homeless shelters, children’s homes and others. It also offers education programs to increase community awareness of hunger and teach about good nutrition.

“We’re thrilled to be the beneficiary of the Big 12 Basketball Food Drive, and we’re already grateful to these fans and to Compass Minerals for helping us to provide much-needed meals to the 1 in 8 people who are at risk of hunger in our community,” said Valerie Nicholson-Watson, president and CEO of Harvesters. “We are here to help those in need of food assistance and thank the Conference for making this initiative an integral part of the Big 12 events in Kansas City.”

The relationship with Compass Minerals was secured by Big 12 Sports Properties on behalf of the Conference. Big 12 Sports Properties is the Learfield IMG College team dedicated to the Conference as its sponsorship rights holder.

About Compass Minerals

Compass Minerals (NYSE: CMP) is a leading provider of essential minerals focused on safely delivering where and when it matters to help solve nature’s challenges for customers and communities. Its salt products help keep roadways safe during winter weather and are used in numerous other consumer, industrial and agricultural applications. And its plant nutrition business manufactures an innovative and diverse portfolio of products that improve the quality and yield of crops, while supporting sustainable agriculture. Additionally, its specialty chemical business serves the water treatment industry and other industrial processes. The company operates 21 production and packaging facilities with more than 3,000 personnel throughout the U.S., Canada, Brazil and the U.K. Visit compassminerals.com for more information about the company and its products.

About Harvesters—The Community Food Network

Harvesters’ main facility is located in Kansas City, Mo. at 3801 Topping Ave. Harvesters also operates a second facility in Topeka, Kan. at 215 E. Quincy St. Harvesters is a certified member of Feeding America, a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks. In 2011, Harvesters was Feeding America’s Food Bank of the Year. Harvesters is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. Harvesters also is a regional disaster-relief staging site for Feeding America and is prepared to distribute food, water and cleaning supplies to disaster sites on short notice.

About Big 12 Conference

The Big 12 Conference is comprised of 10 Universities – Baylor, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech and West Virginia. The Big 12 is an NCAA Division I intercollegiate athletics conference that encompasses five states with over 40 million people within its geographic footprint. In its 24th year, the Conference has produced over 680 Academic All-America selections and claimed national championship team titles in 17 of its 23 sponsored sports. Its student-athletes and teams have combined for over 660 individual NCAA titles and 63 team national championships. Nearly 5,000 student-athletes from across the United States and around the World compete annually under the Big 12 banner. For more information, visit Big12Sports.com and follow the Conference on Facebook (Facebook.com/Big12), Twitter (@Big12Conference) and You Tube (YouTube.com/Big12Conference).