Kroger Co. Aiming to Raise $5 Million For Hunger Programs With Promotion and Campaign

Grocers Doing Good

Food and Grocery retailing company Kroger's two- week Bringing Hope to the Table chain-wide promotion and fundraising campaign to raise millions of dollars for Feeding America food banks across America is into its second week. The program started May 29 and ends June 11.

Kroger Co., which is the second-largest retailer of food and groceries in the U.S. after Walmart Stores, Inc., says its goal in the two-week campaign is to generate a whopping $4.5-$5 million worth of financial and food product donations for over 80 Feeding America food banks in regions and cities where its numerous grocery chains are located, including in California, Nevada and Arizona, where Tesco has its 175 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores.

All of the retailer's grocery chains in California - Ralphs and Food 4 Less in Southern and Central California; Foods Co. in Northern California - Arizona - Fry's Food Stores - and Nevada - Smith's and Food 4 Less - are participating in the program and promotion, along with all its other divisions and chains located throughout the U.S. (Kroger's Los Angeles-based Food 4 Less chain also has stores in Illinois and Indiana.)

Vendor Partners

The May 29-June 11 promotion is a partnership between Kroger and a number of its vendors, including Kraft Foods, General Mills, Pepsi/Frito-Lay, Clorox Co. and others, including the brands and products pictured above.

How it works: Products from these consumer packaged goods companies are identified on shelves throughout the stores with the Bringing Hope to the Table yellow shelf talkers pictured below. When shoppers purchase these brands and items, the companies make a donation as part of Kroger's campaign to raise money for Feeding America and its local food banks.

Additionally, the participating vendors are also supporting the Kroger campaign financially by giving money when shoppers download certain digital coupons from Kroger's website, as you can see here.

Kroger Co. has also set up a special website (here) where individuals can locate and make a donation to their local Feeding America food bank, using the form on this page.

The two-week Bringing Hope to the Table promotion is part of Kroger's (and its associates) on-going campaign and commitment to raising money and food donations for Feeding America and it food bank network.

For example, in Southern California employees of Kroger's Ralphs' chain visit a local Feeding America food bank in San Diego twice each month to fill bags of food for the BackPacks program for children. The kids take the free backpacks filled with food home with them as a way to ensure there's enough food on the table, not only to bring them hope but to fill their stomachs and help keep them alert at school.

Additionally, each year on the weekend before the famous Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena, California, employees of Kroger's Ralphs' and Food 4 Less chains in Southern California participate in  "Operation Gobble Gobble," which is the city of Pasadena's annual holiday hunger outreach project.

The program annually provides full holiday meals for about 400 local families. The Ralphs' and Food 4 Less stores in Southern California donate turkeys, stuffing mix, vegetables and pumpkin pies for each of the meals. In addition, numerous associates volunteer their time along with other community members to fill the food boxes and distribute them to the participating food banks and pantries.

Employees at a number of Kroger's other U.S. grocery chains are donating their time to help the hungry just like the associates in Southern California are.

Ralphs' president Mike Donnelly says the Southern California food banks benefiting from the Bringing Hope to the Table campaign are: Feeding America San Diego; FIND (Indio); Food Bank of Santa Barbara County; Food Share (Oxnard); Los Angeles Regional Foodbank; Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County; and Second Harvest Food Bank Serving Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.

Last year Ralphs-Food 4 Less combined provided over $4 million in financial and food assistance to local food banks in the states and regions where its stores operate, according to Donnelly.

According to Kroger Co., all its chains combined provided about $11.5 million in financial assistance and more than 65 million pounds of food to local food banks in 2010.

Kroger Co. has also been operating a food rescue program since 2008, called the Perishable Donations Partnership (PDP). Under the program, the retailer's supermarket chains can donate fresh meat, produce, dairy and bakery items that can no longer be sold to local food banks.

Last year the PDP program resulted in millions of pounds of perishable food that otherwise would have been thrown away being donated by Kroger-owned chains to the food banks.

Last year, Kroger raised about $4 million - $3 million in cash and $1 million in food product donations - in its two-week Bringing Hope to the Table promotion and campaign. [Read our June 10, 2010 story here: Kroger Co. Launches Two-Week 'Bringing Hope to the Table' Campaign; Commits $4 Million to 'Feeding America'.]

Over the last decade Kroger Co. says it has donated the equivalent of 560 milon meals to food banks in the parts of the U.S. were its supermarket chains and stores operate.

That, and all the above, is an example of a "Grocer Doing Good" on a significant and meaningful scale.

Click here to learn more about Kroger's Bringing Hope to the Table campaign.

Below are a few facts about hunger and food insecurity in America from Feeding America:

>37 million American's don’t know where they'll get their next meal.
>14 million of them are children
>3 million of them are senior citizens.
>36% of these households have one or more working adults.
>48% of these households are in rural and suburban areas.

 Click here to learn more at Feeding America's website.

Kroger Co. Launches Two-Week 'Bringing Hope to the Table' Campaign; Commits $4 Million to 'Feeding America'

Food & Grocery Retailing and Society

Although the positive trend towards an improving U.S. economy and job growth continued in May, albeit with a very sluggish private sector job gain of just 41,000, America's food banks continue to see record numbers of people in need of food assistance, including numerous working people who are having a struggle making ends meet because of reduced hours on the job, stagnant wage growth and rising expenses.

For example, in a November 2009 study (its most recent), the The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (USDA) reported that 49 million Americans, including nearly 17 million children, are food insecure. That's about 15% of the total U.S. population.

This is an increase of 36 percent over the numbers released in 2008 by the USDA, which found that 36.2 million American were at risk of hunger at that time.

The November 2009 USDA report mirrored the findings in late 2009 of a research study conducted by Feeding America, the nation’s leading hunger-relief organization, reflecting a dramatic increase in requests for emergency food assistance from food banks across the country. Feeding America was formerly called Second Harvest.

Conducted in September 2009, the Feeding America study shows that its network of food banks throughout the U.S. were experiencing an average increase in need from Americans of nearly 30 percent. In addition, some of Feeding America's 200 U.S. food banks reported increases in requests for food aid of more than 50 percent over a year prior. The same percentage increases have been reported by faith-based and other community food banks and organizations not affiliated with Feeding America.

According to Feeding America, that increase in need has not decreased in 2010. In fact, Feeding America-member food banks and local food pantries throughout the U.S. are currently reaching out to the U.S. food industry, other businesses and groups, and individuals, for added assistance, as requests from unemployed and working Americans alike continues to increase despite the positive signs that the economy might be on the mend. Unemployment remains at near 10% nationally, and in parts of the U.S., like California, Nevada and Arizona, its in the 12% -to- 13% range.
Below are some stark facts as of January 2010, according to the USDA and Feeding America:

For 1 in 6 people across our country, food insecurity and even hunger is a reality.
• 37 million Americans don’t know where they will get their next meal.
• 14 million of them are children.
• 3 million of them are senior citizens.
• 36% of these households have one or more working adults.
• 48% of these households are in rural and suburban areas.

Kroger Co.'s 'Bringing Hope to the Table' campaign

Food, Grocery and general merchandise retailer Kroger Co. said today it's responding to the needs of Feeding America and other local food banks by launching a two-week campaign it's calling "Bringing Hope to the Table," in its 2,468 supermarkets and superstores nationwide, which runs through June 19.

Kroger Co. has pledged to donate $4 million dollars - $3 million in cash and $1 million in product - at the end of the two-week campaign. Feeding America will use the $4 million in cash and food donations from Kroger to assist 80 local food banks in communities where the retailer's customers and associates live and work.

The "Bringing Hope to the Table" campaign is being held in all of Kroger's Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith's banner supermarkets and superstores.

Here's how the two-week campaign works, according to Lynn Marmer, Kroger's group vice president of corporate affairs: "Every time customers purchase participating national and corporate brand items in any of Kroger's family of stores through June 19, they will be showing their support for food banks in their own community. Participating items will be marked with yellow shelf tags to indicate their pledge to support 'Bringing Hope to the Table.'"

"Through 'Bringing Hope to the Table,' our customers, associates and vendors can drive funds to food banks that feed hungry people in their own communities," says Marmer. "In 2009, Kroger stores partnered with customers and vendors to donate enough food to serve 40 million meals to feed hungry families in the communities we serve."

Kroger Co. operates the Ralph's Supermarkets chain in Southern California, and in California's Bakersfield and Fresno Metro regions, in the Central Valley. Additionally, it operates the Food 4 Less discount warehouse store chain in Southern California and southern Nevada, Smith's Foods & Drug throughout Nevada, and FoodsCo banner warehouse stores in Northern California. In Arizona the company operates the Fry's chain of supermarkets.

Kroger Co. is the number one traditional supermarket chain in the U.S. and the third-largest overall food and grocery retailer, after leader Walmart and number two Costco Wholesale.

The retailer says it currently employs more than 334,000 associates in 2,468 supermarkets and multi-department stores in 31 U.S. states under two dozen local banner names including: Kroger, City Market, Dillons, Jay C, Food 4 Less, Fred Meyer, Fry's, King Soopers, QFC, Ralphs and Smith's.

Cincinnati, Ohio-headquartered Kroger Co. also operates 777 convenience stores, 374 fine jewelry stores, 893 supermarket fuel centers and 40 food processing plants in the U.S.

Even if the positive trend of economic improvement holds in the U.S., it's unlikely we'll see much improvement in the jobs picture until at best mid 2011. Additionally, the Federal Reserve and nearly every economic analysts in the country says wages are likely to remain stagnant for at least that long, and probably longer. As a result, its doubtful that America's food banks will see any reduction in requests for food assistance from unemployed and working Americans. In fact, with events like the BP oil spill putting so many additional Americans out of work in the gulf states, we can expect the numbers of those in need of help to increase throughout this year.

Initiatives like Kroger Co.'s "Bringing Hope to the Table" campaign and similar efforts by numerous other grocery chains and food retailers are vital to helping the thousands of local food banks and pantries in the U.S. meet the needs of those needing assistance during these tough economic times. And in a country of food abundance like the U.S., we all should do our fair share to help.

If you want to help Feeding America and its 200 local food banks, go to its website here. Additionally, for more information about Kroger Co.'s efforts in partnership with Feeding America click here.