To help equip the food bank network achieve our vision of an America where no one is hungry, Feeding America collaborates with partners that are deeply committed to supporting work that enriches the lives of people, strengthens communities, and betters our planet. Partners like Walmart and Sam’s Club, and charitable support from the Walmart Foundation prioritize addressing people’s needs for better and healthier food systems. Walmart and Sam’s Club are also engaging their workforce and other corporate entities to join the movement to end hunger. Over many years, we have made significant impacts throughout our relationship—and we recognize there's more to do, including growing the hunger-relief movement.
Collectively, Walmart and Sam’s Club have invested more than $240 million to help end hunger since 2005, with nearly $160 million from the company and the Walmart Foundation, and nearly $85 million from customers and staff members. The support of Walmart and Sam’s Club—Feeding America’s largest food donors—helps us reduce costs, increase and diversify the amount of food we distribute, and expand our reach to more neighbors facing hunger. In 2006, the Retail Store Donation program launched because of the efforts of associates at a single Sam’s Club. Since then, Walmart, Sam’s Club and their network of distribution centers have donated over 7.5 billion pounds of nourishing food, helping ensure partner food banks have the food and resources needed to strengthen their communities.
To support people who are working hard to provide for their families, Feeding America has created tools that ease the stigma of accessing charitable food assistance and increase convenience for grocery pickups. OrderAhead—an app powered by Feeding America’s MealConnect platform, the only food-rescue and sourcing technology available nationwide—enables neighbors to order food from a food bank or partner agency and receive a home delivery or to pick up food at a convenient community location, drive-thru distribution or delivery locker. The Walmart Foundation has made multi-year investments in these tools, including a $13.6 million, two-year gift in fiscal year 2023 to support OrderAhead’s work to onboard agency partners, our efforts to connect neighbors to important resources such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Retail Agency Capacity, which focuses on better serving rural and/or communities of color.
Ending hunger in America requires more than food. Walmart and Sam’s Club understand the value of investing in our mission and building the food bank network’s capacity so members are equipped to more frequently and efficiently pick up donated food like meat, produce and dairy from retailers—the largest stream of food for the network—and distribute it to individuals and families facing hunger. Together, we are providing innovative solutions to meet today’s needs and creating additional resources and opportunities to help address hunger’s root causes so that tens of millions of neighbors can nourish themselves and their families.
With their scope and influence, Walmart and Sam’s Club inspire other corporate leaders to take action to ensure neighbors facing hunger can access the food and resources they need to thrive. For example, the 10th annual Fight Hunger. Spark Change. campaign with Walmart and Sam’s Club united nearly 30 suppliers to participate and generated more than $20 million in unrestricted funding for Feeding America. The campaign—which benefited every food bank across the network—furthered our work to reach people who have been disproportionately impacted by hunger.
