Harveys Bites Back at Hunger With Apples

Harveys Supermarkets and its customers have joined forces with FirstFruits Marketing of Washington this holiday season to donate thousands of pounds of apples to needy families through the organization’s nationwide “Take a Bite Out of Hunger” campaign, which runs through Jan. 31.

The Salisbury, N.C.-based grocery chain made its first donation of 8,600 pounds of apples to the Second Harvest Food Bank of South Georgia in Valdosta on Nov. 23.

“Our goal is to donate more than 60,000 pounds of apples to local food banks between now and Christmas,” said Harveys director of produce Michael Purvis. “This donation will help so many people as they find ways to cope with providing nutritious foods this holiday season.”

Every time a customer buys Washington state apples, Harveys will donate apples to an area food bank, with the aim of donating more than 60,000 pounds by the close of the campaign.

Purvis expects the next apple donation to be made sometime during the week before Christmas. The FirstFruits campaign has the goal of donating 1 million apples to food banks across the United States.

Harveys, an affiliate of Food Lion LLC, a subsidiary of Brussels-based Delhaize Group, operates about 70 stores in Georgia, Florida and South Carolina.