SALISBURY, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--To end hunger for 1 in 8 neighbors and 1 in 6 food-insecure children, Food Lion today announced its bold new plans for its hunger-relief initiative, Food Lion Feeds. To fight hunger in its operating area, Food Lion Feeds will expand its long-term partnership with Feeding America®, create new partnerships to address hunger, and is committing to donate 1 billion more meals* by the end of 2025 to its neighbors in need. Food Lion Feeds reached its previous goal of donating 500 million meals in May, nearly 18 months early.
“At Food Lion, we believe that no one should have to choose between dinner and rent or gasoline and buying groceries, and we know far too many of our neighbors are faced with those difficult decisions,” said Meg Ham, president of Food Lion. “Children in our classrooms, servicemembers who give so much to serve our nation, and seniors on fixed incomes in our towns and cities are struggling with hunger. Hunger knows no bounds. So, Food Lion is committed to nourishing our neighbors and setting them up for success in life and we couldn’t be more proud to take on this incredibly important mission in an even bigger, more impactful way.”
Partnerships to Expand Reach and Increase Impact
To achieve its goal, Food Lion Feeds announced new partnerships with No Kid Hungry, a campaign to end child hunger in the U.S., and Operation Homefront, to fight food-insecurity among our nation’s servicemembers and their families. Additionally, Food Lion Feeds will continue to grow its longstanding partnership with Feeding America®, and the 30 Feeding America member food banks across Food Lion’s 10-state service territory, through a combination of product, financial and equipment donations; disaster relief and recovery efforts; volunteer events; in-store retail campaigns; Food Lion Feeds’ retail food rescue program to donate food before it perishes; and other sources. Food Lion Feeds is also introducing new opportunities to involve its customers in the fight against hunger, through the launch of a new resource to encourage volunteerism in the towns and cities Food Lion serves.
“For years, Food Lion has been a strong partner to the Feeding America network. We are grateful for its commitment to helping people who face hunger,” said Andy Wilson, chief development officer at Feeding America. “The Food Lion Feeds donation will help food banks provide more nourishing meals to our neighbors in need.”
Additionally, to coincide with Feeding America’s Hunger Action Month in September, Food Lion Feeds is launching the “#NoEmptyPlate” social media challenge, and will donate one meal for every post on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram customers make featuring an empty plate using #FoodLionFeeds and #NoEmptyPlate, up to one million meals. All meals donated through the #NoEmptyPlate challenge will benefit Feeding America and their member food banks in Food Lion’s service area.
Similarly, the new partnership with No Kid Hungry will help reduce the gap between the number of school children who are eligible to receive free school breakfast and those children who receive the meal. When kids start their day with a healthy breakfast, they do better on tests, have fewer discipline problems, have fewer health problems, and are more likely to graduate from high school. Food Lion Feeds’ donation to No Kid Hungry will provide up to five million meals to kids in need.**
“One in six kids in America will face hunger this year,” said Jill Davis, Senior Vice President of Corporate Partnerships for Share Our Strength, the organization behind the No Kid Hungry campaign. “No Kid Hungry is committed to feeding those children so that they can reach their full potential. And through partnerships with companies like Food Lion, we are one step closer to achieving no kid hungry.”
To fight food insecurity among military and veteran families, Food Lion Feeds is partnering with Operation Homefront, a national nonprofit that serves America’s military families by providing them critical financial assistance, including meals and grocery assistance, transitional and permanent housing and recurring family support programs throughout the year. Its Holiday Meals for Military program helps address food insecurity among military and veteran families. The partnership with Food Lion Feeds will enable the organization to broaden its reach and provide critical resources for our servicemembers and their families.
“We are thrilled Food Lion has chosen Operation Homefront as their Food Lion Feeds partner,” said Margi Kirst, chief development officer of Operation Homefront. “Their support drives our ability to build strong, stable, and secure military families so they can thrive – not simply struggle to get by – in the communities they have worked so hard to protect. We thank Food Lion for their commitment to serving America’s military families.”
“These partnerships will enable us to have an even deeper impact in our communities while addressing some of the root causes of food insecurity,” said Ham. “We want to shorten the lines at our feeding agency partners, while at the same time meeting the needs of those in need of emergency food assistance, just as we have always done. Through these partnerships, and with the support of our customers and associates, we are committed to fighting hunger in the towns and cities we serve.”
Making it Easy for Customers to Join in the Fight to End Hunger
Food Lion’s customers will also be able to more easily connect with hunger-relief organizations in their hometown through Food Lion Feeds’ new relationship with FoodFinder, a resource hosted on foodlion.com. With the simple insertion of a zip code, customers will have easy access to a list of Feeding America-affiliated feeding agencies in their local community. Customers can connect with those agencies to volunteer, whether they have one day, one week or one month a year or more to give. Volunteerism helps local feeding agencies stretch their resources and serve more of our neighbors in need.
*$1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America® on behalf of local member food banks. Through the #NoEmptyPlate social media challenge, $0.10 (monetary equivalent of 1 meal) for every post will be donated to Feeding America and member food banks. Food Lion guarantees a minimum donation of $100,000 (monetary equivalent of 1 million meals) from Aug. 21 – Sept. 30, 2019. For more information, visit www.foodlion.com/feeds.
**$1 can provide up to 10 meals. Learn more at NoKidHungry.org/onedollar.
About Food Lion
Food Lion, based in Salisbury, N.C., since 1957, has more than 1,000 stores in 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states and employs more than 63,000 associates. By leveraging its longstanding heritage of low prices and convenient locations, Food Lion is working to own the easiest full shop grocery experience in the Southeast, anchored by a strong commitment to affordability, freshness and the communities it serves. Through Food Lion Feeds, the company has donated more than 500 million meals to individuals and families since 2014. Food Lion is a company of Ahold Delhaize USA, the U.S. division of Zaandam-based Royal Ahold Delhaize Group. For more information, visit www.foodlion.com.
About Feeding America
Feeding America® is the largest hunger-relief organization in the United States. Through a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs, we provide meals to more than 46 million people each year. Feeding America also supports programs that prevent food waste and improve food security among the people we serve; educates the public about the problem of hunger; and advocates for legislation that protects people from going hungry. Individuals, charities, businesses and government all have a role in ending hunger. Donate. Volunteer. Advocate. Educate. Together we can solve hunger. Visit www.feedingamerica.org, find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.
About No Kid Hungry
No child should go hungry in America. But 1 in 6 kids will face hunger this year. No Kid Hungry is ending childhood hunger through effective programs that provide kids with the food they need. This is a problem we know how to solve. No Kid Hungry is a campaign of Share Our Strength, an organization working to end hunger and poverty. Join us at NoKidHungry.org
About Operation Homefront
Founded in 2002, Operation Homefront is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to build strong, stable, and secure military families so that they can thrive – not simply struggle to get by – in the communities they have worked so hard to protect. Recognized for superior performance by leading independent charity oversight groups, 92 percent of Operation Homefront expenditures go directly to programs that support tens of thousands of military families each year. Operation Homefront provides critical financial assistance, transitional and permanent housing and family support services to prevent short-term needs from turning into chronic, long-term struggles. Thanks to the generosity of our donors and the support from thousands of volunteers, Operation Homefront proudly serves America’s military families. For more information, visit OperationHomefront.org.
