Food Lion Donates 9.5M Meals

Food Lion Feeds continues to support its Feeding America partner food banks, this time by donating 9.5 million meals throughout its 10-state footprint through The Faces of Hope campaign, aimed to help support kids and families affected by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“Already on the front lines of ensuring all of our neighbors receive the nourishment they need, our food bank partners are now faced with new challenges from COVID-19, such as increased demand for food, transportation and volunteer shortages,” said Meg Ham, Food Lion president. “At Food Lion, we’re proud to work with these incredible organizations every day, and we’re committed to continuing to help ease the additional burden felt by our food bank partners and ensure they can feed families counting on them for their next meal.”

The Faces of Hope campaign has multiple elements to assist food bank partners, including volunteerism, funding to increase transportation capacity and resources to support new school feeding distribution models. Starting this month, and running through the end of this year, this latest Food Lion Feeds effort includes four key components:

• Hope for the Future: Provide $25 Food Lion gift cards in partnership with school backpack programs to ensure that kids and their families have the resources to buy food during this critical time. The donation will equal 4,750,000 meals.
• Filling Children’s Bellies: Donate funds to food bank partners with existing childhood hunger feeding programs to provide meals directly to children in vulnerable communities. The donation will equal 1,250,000 meals.
• Turning the Wheels: Donate trucks, drivers and volunteers to help food banks pack and move more food, increasing access to food for neighbors. The donation will equal 3,500,000 meals.
• The Great Pantry Makeover: Grow The Great Pantry Makeover and ongoing support of food banks’ need to invest in infrastructure and equipment to better manage the increased amounts of food needed to support our neighbors. Additionally, donate food to local feeding agencies. The donation will equal 3,500,000 meals.

Earlier this year, Food Lion donated more than $3.6 million to community partners to provide COVID-19 relief, including $3.1 million to food bank and medical research partners, and $500,000 in a partnership to support schools feeding children in need during the summer.

“Nourishing our neighbors is core to everything we do at Food Lion, and we recognize that this is an incredibly difficult time for many,” said Ham. “Our neighbors are counting on us more than ever and we will do our part to bring meals and hope to families in need.”

Based in Salisbury, North Carolina, Food Lion has more than 1,000 stores in 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states and employs more than 68,000 associates. Parent company Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of Zaandam, Netherlands-based Ahold Delhaize operating more than 2,000 stores across 23 states, is No. 11 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2020 list of the top food retailers in North America.