Thanks to the generosity of customers, the Albertsons Cos. Nourishing Neighbors community relief fund raised a record $9.3 million in its September campaign to provide healthy breakfasts for children in need across its market areas. The funds – raised at the register and directed to local organizations in each store’s community – will enable 37.5 million breakfasts throughout the country.
Nourishing Neighbors is a charitable program of the Boise, Idaho-based Albertsons Cos. Foundation, which is working to eradicate hunger in America.
“We are so humbled by the generosity of our customers,” said Christy Duncan Anderson, executive director of the foundation. “When we partner with our communities through Nourishing Neighbors to tackle issues that affect the most vulnerable among us, we help ensure every child in our neighborhoods can get a healthy start to their day.”
The donations were made at checkstands at Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, Star Market, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Acme and other Albertsons Cos. stores. Each store has partnered with a local charity that will use the donations to fund healthy breakfasts for children in their community.
Today, 14 million children in America do not know where their next meal will come from. In total, the resources provided to Nourishing Neighbors grant recipient organizations can enable all of the following:
- Enough milk and juice to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool;
- 460,000 pounds of fruit and vegetables — roughly three times the weight of the Space Shuttle;
- Over 18 tons of peanut butter — roughly the same weight as a semi-tractor trailer;
- Enough oatmeal and cereal to fill 25 cars; and
- Enough granola bars to give one to every resident in the state of Pennsylvania.
$110 million raised for hunger relief in 2020
Since the onset of the pandemic in early 2020 created unprecedented uncertainty and need throughout the country, Nourishing Neighbors has raised $57 million at the register from generous customers for community hunger relief. Albertsons Cos. provided a $53 million commitment to the fund, bringing the total to $110 million to date this year.
Albertsons Cos. has a long-standing commitment to hunger relief. In the last five years, the company has donated more than $2 billion in food to food banks and other hunger relief agencies, expanding its standing as one of the biggest retail supporters of hunger relief in the country. These donations were in addition to hundreds of tons of food contributed through local and regional food drives.
