Posted on November 20, 2010

Walmart, Walmart Foundation Announce $18 Million Holiday Initiative to Fight Hunger

Walmart and the Walmart Foundation have announced more than $18 million in cash and in-kind donations to help fight hunger in the United States this holiday season.

The initiative includes in-store food drives at all Walmart stores through November 22, as well as donations of nine truckloads of food to foodbanks in ten cities and sixty-five refrigerator trucks to Feeding America. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation also will award grants to nonprofit organizations working to combat hunger nationwide through the initiative, including $1 million to the Salvation Army and $4.6 million to local foodbanks.

In addition, through December 31, "fans" of Walmart on Facebook can help decide which of the hundred U.S. cities with the highest hunger rates should receive $1.5 million in grants to fight hunger. The city with the most votes will receive $1 million, while the next five cities with the greatest support will receive $100,000 each.

The holiday initiative is an extension of the company's $2 billion commitment through 2015 to help end hunger in America. According to a new study from the United States Department of Agriculture, one in six Americans continues to be at risk of experiencing food insecurity.

"We must face the fact that there are people who go hungry in this country every day," said Walmart Foundation president Margaret McKenna. "This issue has to be top of mind when we sit down at dinner and when we eat breakfast, and we all have to commit to doing something to help. If all of us give one can of food or volunteer one hour at a foodbank, if we all do one thing, together we can end hunger in this country."