Walmart Foundation donates $7.8M to food banks

BENTONVILLE, Ark. The Walmart Foundation announced that it is donating $7.8 million to support food banks and provide healthy, summer meals to children who receive free or reduced-price lunches during the school year. Through partnerships with Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Feeding America, and local non-profits in the 10 states where children are most at risk of hunger, Walmart and its Foundation will help assure that their neighbors and those in local communities have access to nutritious food.

Walmart's philanthropic arm is expanding its hunger relief efforts in three ways:

• Feeding Hungry Children - A $1.2 million grant to Boys & Girls Clubs of America will purchase healthy meals for more than 93,000 children who, this summer, are being serviced by 350 Boys & Girls Clubs Chapters across the U.S. An additional $250,000 in grants will be awarded to summer feeding programs in Texas, Mississippi, the District of Columbia, Tennessee, Arizona, South Carolina, Louisiana, Missouri, Maine and North Carolina, the top states for child hunger, according to Feeding America.
• Food Bank Support - A $3 million commitment is expected to deliver more than 30 new refrigerator trucks to food banks across the U.S., enabling donated food to be safely transported to food pantries, soup kitchens and other agencies served by Feeding America, the nation's largest charitable hunger-relief organization.
• Food Donation - Walmart stores and Sam's Club locations expect to meet their goal of 90 million pounds of food donated by December 2009. To date, the company's food donation program has provided more than 59.8 million pounds of fresh produce, meat and other nutritious foods to U.S. food banks.

"We continue to see the impact that the economy is having on our neighbors - they are stretching their budgets and looking to us for help in our stores and through our giving," said Margaret McKenna, president of the Walmart Foundation. "Hunger relief is a cause that enables our company's strengths to work for the greater good. From supporting summer feeding programs to donating food, we're committed to doing all we can to help end hunger for our nation's children, parents, homeless and all who have found themselves in need."

Currently, Walmart supercenters and Neighborhood Markets in 2,101 locations - in addition to more than 450 Sam's Club locations across the U.S. - are participating in the company's food donation program. By the end of 2009, Feeding America expects its affiliated community food banks nationwide to be connected with each of Walmart's supercenters and Neighborhood Markets, and its Sam's Club locations to transport food from store shelves to the tables of families in need - often in less than 24 hours.

The Walmart Foundation will also continue supporting hunger relief organizations at the state and local levels. This summer, more than $2.1 million will be donated to Meals on Wheels programs, food banks and other hunger-focused organizations in 21 states via the Walmart Foundation State Giving Councils. On behalf of local Walmart stores, the Walmart Foundation has also contributed more than $1.3 million since January towards the fight against hunger in communities nationwide.

Additionally, on the heels of President Obama's recent announcement of the "United We Serve" summer service initiative, Walmart and Sam's Club associates in the United States are being encouraged to make community service a part of their daily lives. The company's internal Web site, mywalmart.com, helps associates find local volunteer opportunities; and the Walmart Foundation's Volunteerism Always Pays (VAP) program awards grant dollars to qualifying hunger relief organizations, among others, in recognition of associate volunteer hours. The Walmart Foundation anticipates associates will log more than 1.5 million volunteer hours this fiscal year and expects to award more than $9 million in VAP grants.