Walmart and Sam’s Club Reach Food Donation Milestone
Walmart | April 18,2022
Big changes are often slow going. Not because Walmart wants them to be, but because it takes time to make massive impact. Since 2006, Walmart and Sam’s Club have been donating food to local Feeding America® member food banks, and this month marked a major milestone: They hit 7 billion pounds of food donated. They couldn’t have reached this milestone without their associates, who started this program and continue to make it work every day so they can give back in each of their communities across the country.
For context, 7 billion pounds of food equates to more than 5 billion meals*. To put that in perspective, the population of the U.S. is over 331 million people. That means they donated enough food for every person in America to eat three meals a day for five days.
Why the charge to help end hunger?
Well, because food insecurity still exists, and Walmart and Sam’s Club can help organizations solve it. In addition to food donations and strengthening the charitable meal system, they aim to tackle this in other ways, including offering access to low-cost, nutritious food at our stores and online pickup and delivery. Through philanthropy, they support organizations developing innovative approaches to food access and increasing people’s confidence in eating healthier meals.
It’s also why they launched the Fight Hunger. Spark Change. campaign, to involve others in the fight against food insecurity. Now in its ninth year, the campaign isn’t just about providing meals – it’s also about raising awareness in communities that simple actions can make big differences for people who don’t know where their next meal may come from.
Together with the help of associates, customers, members and suppliers, they have secured over 1.5 billion meals** for people in need through Fight Hunger. Spark Change. These meals are in addition to Walmart and Sam’s Club's food donation program, which distributes fresh produce, dairy and meat along with other food items every week to the Feeding America network of 200 member food banks across the country. Progress has certainly been made in the years that Walmart stores and Sam’s Clubs have been working to help fight hunger. Progress alone, no matter how great, isn’t enough. They'll continue working to fight hunger until neighbors have the access they need to the food that sustains them.