The UPS Foundation has given more than $685,000 in grants to 24 community-based food relief organizations around the country in the most recent round of its Prepared and Perishable Food Rescue Program (PPFRP), the organization reports.

The foundation has given more than $8 million through PPFRP since the program's inception in 1989. The program's focus is to make it possible for restaurants, hotels and caterers to donate perishable food -- which otherwise might be wasted -- to local food banks for distribution to the hungry and poor.

The grants will buy equipment to transport and store the food at safe temperatures. Some nonprofits are using the grants -- which range up to $40,000 -- to buy refrigerator trucks and freezer units.

For instance, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, which supplies food to 470 local agencies, will use its $20,000 grant to buy four cook-and-hold ovens for its Kids Cafe program that feeds over 400 inner-city children four nights a week.

The UPS Foundation estimates that the hunger-fighting programs it supports will supply more than 10 million pounds of prepared and perishable food to food banks. Since its start, PPFRP has helped collect more than 200 million pounds of food, the organization reports.