Food Lion LLC Donates 29 Million Pounds of Food and Groceries to America's Second Harvest
CHICAGO --- April 7, 2006 --- America's Second Harvest — The Nations Food Bank Network today announced that Food Lion LLC was their second-largest retail food donor in 2005. The company donated a total of 29 million pounds of grocery product.
“What’s amazing about this level of donation”, says Eric Davis, America's Second Harvest Manager of Retail Programs, “is that for a regional food retailer, Food Lion is making an extraordinary commitment to feeding hungry Americans with such a large donation.”
Food Lion and America's Second Harvest created a retail donation program five years ago with the goal of recovering as much useable grocery product as possible. The revised program established guidelines for dairy and other perishable products to be donated to food banks, rather than destroyed. Food banks, in turn, distribute the donated product to soup kitchens, food pantries, emergency shelters and other charities that provide food to those at risk of hunger.
More than 1,000 Food Lion retail stores are now participating in the program.
Approximately half of the 29 million pounds Food Lion donates to America’s Second Harvest comes from the retail stores, the remainder comes from distribution and reclamation centers.
“Each year Food Lion continues to look for new ways to support our hunger relief efforts,” said Robert Forney, president and CEO of America’s Second Harvest. “They have raised a combined total of $1.2 million in monetary and product donations in just the past two years. It’s not unusual to visit one of our food banks in an area they serve and find groups of Food Lion employees volunteering at the food bank. They are a great example of a company giving back to their community.”
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America's Second Harvest — The Nation's Food Bank Network is the largest charitable domestic hunger-relief organization in the country with a Network of more than 200 Member food banks and food-rescue organizations serving all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. The America's Second Harvest Network secures and distributes more than 2 billion pounds of donated food and grocery products annually; and supports approximately 50,000 local charitable agencies operating more than 94,000 programs including food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, after-school programs and Kids Cafes. Last year, the America's Second Harvest Network provided food assistance to more than 25 million low-income hungry people in the United States, including nearly 9 million children and nearly 3 million seniors. For more on the America's Second Harvest Network, please visit www.secondharvest.org.
Food Lion LLC is a subsidiary of Brussels-based Delhaize Group (NYSE: DEG). Food Lion LLC operates approximately 1,300 supermarkets, either directly or through affiliated entities, under the names of Food Lion, Bloom, Bottom Dollar, Harveys and Reid’s. These stores meet local customer needs and preferences for the freshest and best quality products. Food Lion LLC employs approximately 73,000 associates in 11 Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states.
Contact:
Ross Fraser
Office:
312-641-6422
Cell: 312-307-8047
