Major new efforts help to connect more children and families throughout the region to nutritious food
There’s a reason you see the Food Bank and Food Lion together so frequently – it’s a relationship that goes back decades and one that’s very important across North Carolina and beyond.
Volunteers from Food Lion Feeds prep for the inaugural distribution at Facts of Life in Tabor City, NC.
While Food Lion has been a partner almost since the beginning of our Food Bank, in 2014 they created Food Lion Feeds and made the commitment to provide 500 million meals through organizations like the Feeding America food bank network. And when Food Lion Feeds met that goal, they set a goal to provide 1.5 billion meals by 2025.
Food Lion truly understands that there is a critical need for food in central and eastern North Carolina. Today, more than 580,000 people in our area don’t know where their next meal might come from. As a grocery retailer, Food Lion knows what it takes to move, store, and provide food to the community
Supporting Pop Up Markets
Food Lion recently made a $365 million capital investment to enhance the customer experience with remodeled stores in the greater Raleigh-Durham area. In addition to providing an easier and more affordable shopping experience, Food Lion will be continuing to collaborate with local hunger relief organizations like the Food Bank to address food insecurity.
Alongside the remodeling efforts, Food Lion Feeds provided the Food Bank with a gift that allowed us to purchase a refrigerated tractor-trailer to support our Pop Up Markets. The truck holds an average of 40,000 pounds of food at any given time — which will expand our food distribution capacity by more than 583,000 meals each year.
Food Lion associates are also among our most consistent volunteer groups, most recently staffing our Pop Up Market on the grounds of St. Augustine University. With the team’s support, we provided neighbors with fresh produce and pantry staples alongside Food Lion gift cards to extend grocery budgets even further. More than 1,2000 individuals and families participated in the Pop Up in just two hours!
Expanding Partner Capacity
Food Lion Feeds has been helping our partner agency network expand their capacity for many years through their Great Pantry Makeovers as well as donations of funds and food. Over the summer, our partner agency Facts of Life food pantry was able to build and open a new facility thanks in large part to a $100,000 donation through Food Lion Feeds.
On the day of the ribbon cutting for the new facility, a team of Food Lion staff and volunteers joined Pastor Daisy Brooks and her team in celebrating the new building. They not only donated food but helped pack and distribute grocery bags for more than 300 households.
Each September, in honor of Hunger Action Month, Food Lion Feeds holds the annual Great Pantry Makeover, where Food Lion associates remodel and stock the shelves of food pantries across its 10-state operating area to provide sustainable and impactful solutions. Several Food Bank partner agencies have benefited from this program in the past and this year the Great Pantry Makeover will be assisting more than 30 organizations.
Setting New Records with In-store Programs
Food Lion offers a host of avenues to support anti-hunger efforts, including in-store programs like Summers Without Hunger bag campaign. Customers can purchase a specially designed reusable bag and select Food Lion suppliers match those donations. Locally, those donations equaled $455,000 in Summer 2024 alone — a record high amount that will fuel more than two million meals! All proceeds are invested directly in our shared work to end hunger in our communities.
Food Lion is a true partner in every sense of the word. On top of meeting critical needs and helping expand our agency network capacity, our agencies are connected with local Food Lion stores to pick up food through our retail donation program. Food Lion associates also volunteer at events year-round to support the Food Bank and our partners.
