As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to sweep across the country, the grocery industry remains committed to keep the supply chain flowing and store shelves stocked. Michigan-based Lineage Logistics Holdings is putting its money and its warehouses in play to help the cause. And as consumers continue to flock to stores, grocers such as Iowa-based Hy-Vee are trying to protect their customers as well as their employees.
Lineage Logistics commits $5M, launches ‘Share A Meal’ campaign
Novi, Michigan-based Lineage Logistics Holdings LLC, the world’s largest provider of temperature-controlled logistics, has committed to make a $5 million donation and has launched its Share A Meal campaign to help provide 100 million meals to people in need in response to Covid-19.
“The Covid-19 virus presents extraordinary challenges for moving, storing and distributing food on a large scale,” said Greg Lehmkuhl, Lineage’s president and CEO. “At Lineage, we’ve built a business dedicated to shepherding food all over the world, which puts us in a unique position to help overcome these challenges. We want to do our part by sharing what we have to offer—including temperature-controlled warehouse space, supply chain logistics expertise and financial resources.”
In honor of this response and to kick off the campaign, Lineage is donating $1 million to the Feeding America Covid-19 Response Fund and will donate up to $500,000 more to match contributions made to the fundraiser run by Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, in which all funds are directed to Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization.
“We’re working in a myriad of ways to ensure that every person in need, particularly the residents of Oakland, California, has access to the food they need during this Covid-19 crisis,” said Chris Helfrich, CEO of the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation. “We’re proud to be doing this work alongside Lineage Logistics—they’ve quickly established themselves as an invaluable partner in these critical times.”
“We are very proud to join forces and launch our Share A Meal campaign with Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation to work with Feeding America and provide much-needed meals from coast to coast,” said Kevin Marchetti, co-executive chairman of Lineage Logistics Holdings LLC. “We hope to connect with inspirational changemakers like the Currys in communities across the United States and around the world in pursuit of our goal of helping to provide 100 million meals to people in need.”
In addition to these initial commitments, Lineage is looking to work closely with a number of other strategic partners to make financial and logistical contributions in communities worldwide and reach Share A Meal’s goal.
Lineage will engage its expansive network of customers, which includes some of the world’s largest food producers and manufacturers, to join Lineage in its commitment, and the company will challenge its investors, vendors and other likeminded leaders and businesses to donate as well as they work together to ensure people around the world have access to the food they need. Additionally, recognizing that Covid-19 is a worldwide crisis, Lineage has engaged with the Global FoodBanking Network to provide funds, donate food and volunteer the company’s storage resources and distribution expertise on a global scale.
“We have the opportunity to rise to the occasion in a critical time of need and actively live out Lineage’s purpose statement of helping to feed the world,” Lehmkuhl said. “It’s a time to ask ourselves what we stand for and how far we are willing to go in service of others. We are 14,000 strong in communities near and far. As citizens of the world, we are in this together, and we know Lineage can—and must—do more.”
Lineage’s goal to help provide 100 million meals will include financial and in-kind donations facilitated by Lineage and its partners to Feeding America and other hunger-relief organizations. To support Lineage’s Share a Meal campaign and make a donation to Feeding America’s Covid-19 Response Fund, visit: www.feedingamerica.org/lineage-covid.
Kyrie Irving invites fans to ‘Share A Meal’
Kyrie Irving has partnered with Lineage Logistics and Feeding America to raise awareness for its Share A Meal campaign. The campaign goal is to help ensure no family or child goes hungry during this global pandemic.
Irving is personally contributing $323,000, and is asking his family, friends, fans and partners to join him in donating in support of Feeding America’s Covid-19 Response Fund. Lineage Logistics will match all donations up to $200,000 to City Harvest, New York City’s private response to hunger and largest food rescue organization, and in addition, Irving and Lineage are donating more than 250,000 meals to City Harvest to immediately help those affected by Covid-19.
The 250,000 meal donation is equivalent to 25,000 pounds of food being donated to City Harvest as well as a $25,000 monetary donation, according to the following calculation: $1 = 10 meals.
“Seeing the effects of Covid-19 reach our families, our schools, our jobs and access to food has really impacted me,” Irving said. “I am excited to partner with Feeding America and Lineage Logistics to launch the Share A Meal campaign to help marginalized communities get the food resources they require during this time, and to work with City Harvest to distribute meals to my neighbors in need across the New York area. Thank you to everyone on the front line working to keep all of us safe, healthy and fed. Together we can change the world one small gesture at a time.”
City Harvest is dedicated to feeding New Yorkers who are struggling to put meals on their tables, and in response to the Covid-19 crisis and its devastating economic impact, the organization is stepping up to rescue and deliver more food to meet the increasing need. Deemed an essential service by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York State, its fleet of 22 trucks will continue to be on the road, working hard to make sure all children, families and New Yorkers in need have enough nutritious food in the coming weeks, months, and beyond.
Hy-Vee installs protective windows, temporarily bans reusable bags
West Des Moines, Iowa-based Hy-Vee Inc. has made additional changes to its operations in response to the evolving coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.
Now, customers no longer will be allowed to bring in reusable bags until further notice since it is difficult to monitor their cleanliness. Because it is not always easy to know the sanitization procedures customers are taking at their homes to keep the bags clean, this is one more way the grocer is helping prevent the spread of the virus.
Customers also will start seeing temporary window panels installed at checkouts to help provide an additional layer of protection for both our employees and customers.
These panels are being installed at the checkout, as this is the point in the store visit where customers and employees are in the closest contact. In the aisles or at service counters, customers and employees have more flexibility in placing distance between themselves but the setup of the checkout limits that ability. These panels are in place in Des Moines-area stores and will be installed in all other Hy-Vee locations over the next few days.
“The spread of this virus is asking us all to take extraordinary measures and change the way we live our lives,” said Randy Edeker, Hy-Vee’s chairman, CEO and president. “We are continuing to adapt at Hy-Vee so that we can serve our customers and keep everyone in our stores as safe and healthy as possible.”
Return policy changes temporarily
Beginning March 24, Hy-Vee stores across its eight-state region will not accept returns or issue rain checks for its products. If customers find that any fresh product, such as produce, meat, seafood or deli items, do not meet Hy-Vee’s standards for freshness, then those products can be exchanged for a new product. Non-perishable products, however, will not be accepted.
“The health and well-being of our customers and employees remain our highest priority,” Edeker said. “Because we can’t trace where our products go after they leave our store, we can no longer accept certain products for return. With this change, our customers can feel safe knowing that all products they purchase at their local Hy-Vee have been in our stores the entire time.”
If customers have a defective product they’ve purchased from a Hy-Vee store, they can exchange that product for a new item, since those products will not be re-stocked.
Additionally, due to unprecedented demand for certain products and limited product availability, Hy-Vee stores temporarily will stop issuing rain checks for products that are out of stock.
Hy-Vee is closely monitoring the current Covid-19 situation and will continue to adjust its policies as necessary based on the changing situation.
Hy-Vee Inc. is an employee-owned corporation operating more than 265 retail stores across eight Midwestern states with sales of $10 billion annually.
