Food Lion Providing Meals to Pandemic-Affected Families
Through its Food Lion Feeds charitable arm, Food Lion is enabling customers to buy and donate a prepacked Holidays Without Hunger food box for $5, while supplies last, or make a cash donation at checkout, through Dec. 15 The specially marked boxes hold mac and cheese, brown rice, green beans, canned chicken, spaghetti, and pasta sauce. The grocer will then donate the box directly to a local food bank or partner feeding agency in the store’s surrounding community.
“At Food Lion, we believe no one should go hungry, especially during the holiday season, and this year, perhaps more than ever, has been difficult for our neighbors,” noted Jennifer Blanchard, Food Lion’s director of community relations. “Our associates and customers care about their neighbors, and the Holidays Without Hunger box offers an easy and affordable way to make a difference in their towns and cities.”
One hundred percent of donations go to Chicago-based Feeding America, the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the United States.
The grocer is on track to donate more than 3.6 million meals to needy families this holiday season, with $1 helping to provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local member food banks.
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.
