Salisbury, North Carolina-based Food Lion Feeds has donated more than $106,000 in child feeding grants to No Kid Hungry to support the campaign’s mission to end child hunger. The grants were distributed to five school districts across South Carolina and Virginia and will support feeding programs at nearly 200 schools across those districts in the towns and cities Food Lion serves.
With many schools still closed for in-person learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, food-insecure children have had one less resource available for nourishment. Through these grants, Food Lion Feeds is partnering with No Kid Hungry to ensure local school districts have additional funding to support these school systems’ efforts to create more sustainable infrastructures to distribute food in new, innovative ways.
The five school districts receiving the grants include:
- Essex County Public Schools – three schools – Tappahannock, Virginia – $15,700;
- Newport News Public Schools – 45 schools – Newport News, Virginia – $30,000;
- Prince Edward County School District – three schools – Farmville, Virginia – $10,000;
- Horry County Schools – 53 schools – Conway, South Carolina – $35,000; and
- Greenville County School District – 87 schools – Greenville, South Carolina – $16,150.
“No child should ever face hunger, and through partnerships like this with No Kid Hungry, Food Lion is committed to ensuring that students can focus more on learning than where their next meal will come from,” said Jennifer Blanchard, director of community relations for Food Lion. “The last year has been difficult for many of our neighbors. We know they’re counting on us more than ever to help nourish their families, and we’re committed to doing everything we can to support our neighbors in the towns and cities we serve.”
“We are truly grateful for our partnership with Food Lion,” said Diana Hovey, SVP of corporate partnerships at Share Our Strength, the organization behind the No Kid Hungry campaign. “With as many as one in four kids facing hunger today, the work that we’re doing to feed them is even more pressing. With support from partners like Food Lion, we can ensure children have access to healthy meals during this pandemic and in the recovery to come.”
Food Lion announced its partnership with No Kid Hungry in 2019. No Kid Hungry helps to reduce the gap between the number of school children who are eligible to receive free school breakfast and those children who receive the meal. They are committed to feeding children so they can reach their full potential.
Through Food Lion Feeds, the retailer’s hunger-relief platform, Food Lion has donated more than 750 million meals to individuals and families since 2014 through a combination of product, financial and equipment donations; disaster relief and recovery efforts; volunteer hours by associates; in-store retail campaigns; and the company’s food rescue program. After donating its 500 millionth meal in 2019, Food Lion committed to donate 1 billion more meals by 2025.
Food Lion has more than 1,000 stores in 10 Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic states and employs more than 77,000 associates. Food Lion is a company of Ahold Delhaize USA, the U.S. division of Zaandam-based Ahold Delhaize.
