Wal-Mart donates $2 billion to Food Banks
The Wal-Mart Corporation announced plans to contribute $2 billion in cash and food to the nation’s food banks, one of the largest corporate gifts on record.
Over the next five years, the giant retail company will distribute some 1.1 billion pounds of food to food banks and provide $250 million to help them buy refrigerated trucks, improve storage and develop better logistics.
“Hunger is just a huge problem, and as the largest grocer in the country, we need to be at the head of the pack in doing something about it,” said Margaret McKenna, president of the Wal-Mart Foundation.
While the economy seems to be turning around, the number of people turning to charities to help put food on their tables continues to grow. A recent survey by Feeding America found that 37 million people a year now use its national network of food banks, a 46 percent increase from 2006. The survey drew on interviews with more than 61,000 people who use food banks, as well as reports from 37,000 food banks across the country.
Put another way, 1 in every 8 Americans uses a food bank to make ends meet, the survey said.
More than one-third of those surveyed said they would not have been able to pay for basics like rent, utilities and medical care without relying on food banks to offset the cost of their meals — and more than a third said at least one person in their household was working.
“It is not just the unemployed that are going hungry,” said Vicki B. Escarra, chief executive of Feeding America.
Good choice. Businesses donate to many charities – for many reasons – above and beyond the tax break boundary.
Pleased to see Wal-Mart pick something that is affecting so many folks as we climb out from under this recession.
..good for wal-mart….
ivonne
Sex, Spirit & Soul Mates....Ivonne's Journey
May 13, 2010 at 9:59 pm
My first reaction is how many people that use food banks also work for Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart would do a better and more lasting contribution if they bought more goods from American manufacturers, paid their employees better and gave them decent health insurance. Unemployment and underemployment are the leading causes of people needing help.
I find it difficult to thank Wal-Mart for this contribution. The same as Carnegie and Rockefeller didn’t deserve the philanthropy credit when they beat their employees into low wages in dangerous conditions and overcharged for their product.
Mr. Fusion
May 14, 2010 at 10:01 am
Hindsight helps.
Carnegie was a world-class prick. No doubt about it.
Yet, one of the most significant threads in my childhood was our family walk to the neighborhood Carnegie library to borrow books for the next week.
****
The same potential is there at WalMart. It’s new management and, yes, they’re still the same kind of anti-union pricks that run just about every American corporation. Why expect different?
They could be giving their charity to some right-wing creeps doing no good for anyone at all. This is $2 billion in trucks, food, etc, the food banks wouldn’t otherwise be receiving.
god
May 14, 2010 at 10:56 am
[...] a little absurd to think that corporate philanthropy will just disappear. Walmart just gave $2 billion to fight hunger this past week (although I’m sure hunger causes resonate with Walmart’s core customers [...]
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