Food Lion partners to help provide meals

Published 1:20 pm Friday, June 12, 2020

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Food Lion customers have the opportunity to make a much-needed difference in their neighbors’ lives by making a $5 donation to Feeding America and 30 of its member food banks located across Food Lion’s service area through the retailer’s new “Summers Without Hunger” campaign.

The campaign is supported by six suppliers to Food Lion – Campbells, Hormel, Kellogg’s, Pepsi Co., Seald Sweet and Tyson – who will each donate up to 250,000 units of product to help fight hunger in the towns and cities Food Lion serves.

To participate, customers simply need to take one of the backpack-shaped hang tags from the Summers Without Hunger display through June 30, and hand it to the cashier at the checkout. Food Lion Feeds will donate that $5 to the member food bank closest to that store and to Feeding America. Each $5 donation customers make in their local Food Lion store triggers a product donation from each of the participating vendors.

“At Food Lion, nourishing our neighbors is at the core of everything we do, and we’re excited to offer customers who are able to join with us in the fight against hunger another way to care for the towns and cities we all call home,” Jennifer Blanchard, director of community relations for Food Lion, said. “We sincerely appreciate these six great vendors for partnering with us to help meet the increased need many of our neighbors are facing. We’re looking forward to partnering with these vendors and our customers to make a big difference in the lives of our neighbors in need.”

“The Feeding America network continues to experience an increase in demand for food assistance resulting from the COVID-19 crisis. We are thankful to Food Lion, its suppliers and consumers for their generous support of member food banks across the Southeast,” Lauren Biedron, vice president of corporate partnerships at Feeding America, said. “Their product and monetary contributions will help make a difference in the lives of families who may not know where they will find their next meal.”

To help kickoff the campaign and address the unprecedented need food banks are facing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, each of the six participating brands made significant donations to several local food banks this week, including: Campbells: 100,000 units of Lance crackers, peanuts and popcorn; Hormel: 48,000 units of Hormel Chunk Chicken; Kellogg’s: 250,000 Nutri-Grain bars, cereals and other foods; Pepsi Co.: 100,000 bottles of Aquafina water; Seald Sweet: 100,000 clementines; and Tyson: 100,000 units of Tyson Chicken.

Through Food Lion Feeds, Food Lion has donated more than 500 million meals to individuals and families since 2014, and has committed to donate 1 billion more meals by 2025.