'Hannaford Helps' At-risk Youth

At-risk children will be able to attend local summer camps and youth development programs, as well as gain access to nutritious food and needed school supplies, thanks to a $400,000 donation by Hannaford Supermarkets' Hannaford Helps program.

The donation represents a 10 percent increase in the $4 million in funds that the Scarborough, Maine-based grocer and its charitable foundation contribute to local charities annually. All of the new money will go to aid underprivileged kids.

"With these Hannaford Helps contributions, we are focusing on the fact that a community is only as strong as its next generation," noted Hannaford President Mike Vail.

A quarter-million dollars of the Hannaford Helps funds will enable more than 200 low-income children to attend youth development programs designed to provide them with new life skills and help them reach their full potential. The rest of the funds will purchase nutritious food for school pantries and other programs aimed at helping food-insecure children, as well as provide school supplies and gift cards for teachers' use.

Hannaford Helps has set a 2016 goal of increasing the amount of meat, produce, bread and other fresh items donated directly by its stores to area food pantries and meal programs by 20 percent, or 1.5 million meals. Last year, the grocer gave 14.6 million pounds of rescued food to hunger relief organizations.

A Delhaize America company, Hannaford operates 188 stores in Maine, New York, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont, and employs more than 27,000 associates.