Throughout the 2022 college football season, Salisbury, North Carolina-based Food Lion Feeds partnered with 33 higher education institutions to provide 828,000 meals to local food banks.
For every sack, the grocer’s foundation provided 1,000 meals per school to each of their local Feeding America member food bank. The foundation was founded in 2014 by the grocer to address food insecurity in the towns and cities it serves.
“As much as we are committed to ending hunger in the towns and cities we serve, we are just as energized by the support we rally in these football stadiums each time there is a quarterback sack and more meals are contributed to our partner food banks,” said Kevin Durkee, manager, Food Lion Feeds.
“While the football teams compete on the field, the students, fans and our neighbors join forces to help make a difference in their communities, working together to nourish families facing hunger.”
Liberty University Flames led the season with 41 quarterback sacks, resulting in 41,000 meals for Blue Ridge Area Food Bank in Verona, Virginia. Food Lion Feeds provided an additional 50,000 meals to that same food bank in memory of three University of Virginia players who lost their lives in a campus shooting in mid-November.
The participating schools were Appalachian State University, Bowie State University, Catawba College, Chowan University, Clemson University, Coastal Carolina University, East Carolina University, Elizabeth City State University, Elon University, Fayetteville State University, Georgia Southern University, James Madison University, Johnson C. Smith University, Liberty University, Lincoln University, Livingston College and North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University.
The other schools were the North Carolina State University, Old Dominion University, Shaw University, St. Augustine’s University, Towson University, University of Delaware, University of Maryland, University of North Carolina, University of Richmond, University of Virginia, Virginia State University, Virginia Tech University, Virginia Union University, Wake Forest University, William and Mary College and Winston-Salem State University.
The food banks that will benefit from each school’s efforts include the Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest North Carolina, Maryland Food Bank, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, Food Bank of the Albemarle, Lowcountry Food Bank, Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina, Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeast North Carolina, America’s Second Harvest of Coastal Georgia, Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Food Bank of Delaware, Food Bank of Southeastern Virginia and the Eastern Shore, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle, Maryland Food Bank, Capital Area Food Bank, Feed More, Feeding Southwest Virginia and the Virginia Peninsula Food Bank.
In 2022, Food Lion Feeds’ Sack to Give Back program benefited 16 food banks serving communities where each school is located. Since 2019, the Sack to Give Back program resulted in more than 2.1 million meals provided to local food banks across its 10-state footprint.
