Hannaford Supermarkets announced the New York launch of Hannaford Helps Fight Hunger, a charitable campaign focused on helping feed the one in eight state residents who do not have access to enough nutritious food.<\/p>\n
Hannaford Helps Fight Hunger is a partnership between the supermarket and its customers to provide food and money donations to local pantries and regional food banks. Company officials said donations benefit the 13.3 percent of New York residents who were found, in a recently published U.S. Department of Agriculture report, to be “food insecure,” without consistent access to all the nutritious food they need.<\/p>\n
“This program makes it convenient for Hannaford customers to support neighbors who are struggling,” said Eric Blom, company spokesman. “At a time when the need continues to grow, Hannaford Helps Fight Hunger allows people to make donations right at the supermarket and purchase food items that trigger matching donations by Hannaford.”
\nThe Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York distributed 27 million pounds of food – representing about 22 million meals – last year, an all-time high, said Executive Director Mark Quandt.<\/p>\n
“Many people who were not in need in the past have fallen on hard times and turned to pantries and food banks for help,” Quandt said. “There continues to be a pervasive need for food assistance in the community.”<\/p>\n
Officials said Hannaford Helps Fight Hunger has three parts:<\/p>\n
Hannaford Helping Hands: Customers purchase a box of food staples for $10, and choose whether to have the box delivered to the local pantry or to donate it personally. As thanks for the donation, each customer receives a book containing more than $20 in coupons. Last year, Hannaford customers donated 75,000 Helping Hands boxes.<\/p>\n
Register Donation: From Dec. 2 through Dec. 31, customers may donate money to their state food bank, in $5 increments, right at the register. Last holiday season, Hannaford customers made $99,437 in register donations.<\/p>\n
Buy One, Give One: Going through Dec. 15, customers can trigger Hannaford donations to food banks by purchasing a particular product on specific days. For each item purchased, Hannaford will donate an identical product to the state or regional food bank. Last year, Hannaford donated 68,431 boxes of spaghetti, 40,542 cans of tuna and 35,164 cans of soup through this initiative., officials said.<\/p>\n
Each Hannaford store, including the 49 in New York, determines what local food pantries to support. Stores compete with one another to encourage donations, and those supermarkets with the highest level of giving receive additional cash donations from Hannaford to be contributed locally.<\/p>\n
“Hannaford works all year to help fight hunger in the communities we serve, with regular donations, awareness efforts and other support,” Blom said. “We are particularly proud of the generosity shown by customers during the holiday season through Hannaford Helps Fight Hunger.”<\/p>\n
Since 2008, the program has contributed a total of more than $3.5 million in food, customer cash gifts and Hannaford cash donations to local food pantries and food banks, according to the company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hannaford Supermarkets announced the New York launch of Hannaford Helps Fight Hunger, a charitable campaign focused on helping feed the one in eight state residents who do not have access to enough nutritious food. Hannaford Helps Fight Hunger is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n