Posted on June 25, 2009

Wal-Mart Boosts Hunger Relief, Healthy Meals Efforts

The Wal-Mart Foundation has announced grants totaling $7.8 million to support foodbanks and provide healthy summer meals for children who receive free or reduced-price lunches during the school year.

Through partnerships with Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Feeding America, and local nonprofits in the ten states where children are most at risk of hunger, Wal-Mart Stores and the foundation will work to ensure that people have access to nutritious food.

Grants announced by the foundation include $1.2 million to Boys & Girls Clubs of America to provide healthy meals this summer for more than 93,000 children served by 350 clubs across the country, and $250,000 to summer feeding programs in Texas, Mississippi, the District of Columbia, Tennessee, Arizona, South Carolina, Louisiana, Missouri, Maine, and North Carolina. Wal-Mart also has committed $3 million to help deliver more than thirty new refrigerator trucks to U.S. foodbanks so that donated food can be transported safely to food pantries, soup kitchens, and other outlets served by Feeding America.

The new grants are in addition to the Wal-Mart Foundation's ongoing support of hunger relief organizations at the state and local levels. This summer the foundation will provide more than $2.1 million to Meals on Wheels programs, foodbanks, and other hunger-focused organizations in twenty-one states through its State Giving Councils. In addition, 2,101 Wal-Mart stores and 450 Sam's Clubs expect to meet their goal of donating 90 million pounds of fresh produce, meat, and other nutritious foods to foodbanks across the country by December 2009.

"Hunger relief is a cause that enables our company's strengths to work for the greater good," said Wal-Mart Foundation president Margaret McKenna. "We're committed to doing all we can, from supporting summer feeding programs to food donation, to help end hunger for our nation's children, parents, homeless, and all who have found themselves in need."