CIT Group Inc. announced the company’s success in collecting more than 30 tons of food for the Interfaith Food Pantry, a Morris Plains, NJ-based organization that helps feed local families. The Livingston-based employee food drive is part of CIT’s inaugural company-wide global initiative to combat hunger.

“Our Livingston employees worked together to achieve an incredibly outstanding result that was more than triple our initial food drive goal,” said John Thain, Chairman and CEO. “I’m very proud of their hard work and generosity which supports organizations like the Interfaith Food Pantry that are vital to our communities. I’m excited to see what we can achieve throughout the remainder of the year as all our global employees focus on giving back to their communities.”

Rosemary Gilmartin, Executive Director at New Jersey’s Interfaith Food Pantry, said, “We’re grateful to CIT for their generous donation to our organization – which was sorely needed as our supply was perilously low. The demand has been incredible as the economy continues to struggle. While we receive wonderful support from the entire community, we have never seen a drive on this scale done by one company. It’s truly remarkable and we are extremely overjoyed to receive such great support from such an extraordinary team of people.”

CIT offices around the world will continue to sponsor similar Employee Food Drives throughout 2013. Most recently, CIT employees from Burlington and Toronto, CAN; Charlotte, NC; and Ft. Lauderdale and Sunrise, FL raised an additional 1.5 tons of food for area food banks. These efforts will be added to the 87 tons (174,000 pounds) of food and personal items previously donated by Jacksonville, FL employees over the last seven years during their annual food drive.