Ahead of the Easter holiday, Food Lion Feeds this week will donate over 200,000 pounds of fresh meat to 10 regional food bank partners across its 10-state footprint to benefit families fighting hunger. High protein fresh food donations are particularly beneficial to food banks, as the majority of donations received are non-perishable items such as canned goods. The 200,000 pound donation will be distributed this week among the 10 food banks to distribute to their feeding agency partners and hungry families across their service areas as demand necessitates.
"Holiday meals are a time for families to gather around the table and enjoy a meal together, but families fighting hunger cannot always experience that simple joy," said Christy Phillips-Brown, director of external communications and community relations for Food Lion.
"Food banks do tremendous work every day of the year to help feed members of their communities fighting hunger, and we hope that this donation will allow them to do even more to help feed our neighbors in need this Easter holiday."
Regional food bank partners receiving these donations include:
Chattanooga Area Food Bank (Chattanooga)
Second Harvest Food Bank of NWNC (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
MANNA Food Bank (Asheville, N.C.)
FeedMore/Central VA Food Bank (Richmond, Va.)
Feeding America Southwest Virginia Food Bank (Salem, Va.)
Food Bank of Central & Eastern NC (Raleigh, N.C.)
Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeast NC/ Action (Fayetteville, N.C.)
Food Bank of the Albemarle (Elizabeth City, N.C.)
Blue Ridge Area Food Bank (Verona, Va.)
Fredericksburg Regional Food Bank (Fredericksburg, Va.)
Through Food Lion Feeds, the company has made a commitment to provide 500 million meals to individuals and families in need by the end of 2020. Since the launch of Food Lion Feeds in 2014, the grocer has donated more than 280 million meals through in-store campaigns, in-store food rescue programs and associate volunteerism.