On Tuesday, May 22 the newest addition to FeedMore’s distribution fleet brought healthy food for wholesome meals to more than 200 families who live in Richmond. Donated by Kroger Mid-Atlantic, the truck allowed FeedMore to deliver fresh food to under-served communities and neighborhoods with limited access to grocery stores across Central Virginia.
The truck donation was in line with Kroger’s Zero Hunger Zero Waste campaign, a company-wide commitment to end hunger and eliminate food waste by 2025. Kroger offered to donate a new $120,000 refrigerated box truck to FeedMore after learning it had been nearly a decade since FeedMore added a truck to its mobile distribution fleet.
“We’re all in on Zero Hunger Zero Waste and focused on seeking out real solutions that bring families in need the meals they need,” said Allison McGee, corporate affairs manager at Kroger Mid-Atlantic. “If donating a truck means that more Richmond families will not have to choose between buying food or paying the electric bill, then we’re proud to provide this truck to help more families put a meal on the table.”
As part of the donation, FeedMore presented Kroger with a two-year title sponsorship of the program, now known as the “Mobile Pantry program powered by Kroger.”
FeedMore’s Mobile Pantry distributes perishable and non-perishable food items at 32 sites on a schedule that reaches as many as 20 sites per month. Each month, FeedMore’s Mobile Pantry program distributes an average of 75,000 pounds of food to 2,000 households comprised of 4,750 individuals. In the last fiscal year, FeedMore’s Mobile Pantry distributed more than 1 million pounds of food to children, adults and seniors, greatly improving their access to healthy, nutritious food.
“Food scarcity and insecurity are enormous threats to our communities. We are grateful to have partners like Kroger who bring solutions to the table and do everything they can to help fight hunger,” said Doug Pick, CEO of FeedMore. “Thanks to Kroger, our Mobile Pantry will now be able to distribute more nourishing meals to communities who don’t have easy access to grocery stores.”
On May 22 at the Hillside Court Community Center on 1500 Hardwood Avenue, Kroger hosted a special distribution event for the community and shared remarks about the Mobile Pantry program, along with its partners at FeedMore and Richmond Redevelopment Housing Authority. FeedMore conducts mobile distributions at 11 RRHA communities throughout Richmond.
Since 2014, Kroger Mid-Atlantic has donated more than 2 million meals to FeedMore through a variety of initiatives, including coin box donations, icon sales, corporate donations, partnerships, perishable donations and other community events.
