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Walmart announced the 75 food pantry winners of the Food Pantry Holiday Makeover campaign; each to receive a $20,000 grant for facility makeovers

Food Pantry Holiday Makeover Campaign Awards $20,000 in Grants to 75 Food Pantries Across the Country

BENTONVILLE, Ark., 2014-12-16 — /EPR Retail News/ — Today, Walmart announced the 75 food pantry winners of the Food Pantry Holiday Makeover campaign that will each receive a $20,000 grant for facility makeovers. Over the past two weeks, communities nationwide came together to vote at walmart.com/holidaymakeover for their local food pantry to win a grant. The grants are being made to help the winning food pantries, such as the Chesapeake Cares Food Pantry in Huntingtown, Md., renovate their facilities and purchase essential equipment such as new refrigerators, ovens, stoves, storage units, and even refrigerated trucks to help them better serve families in need.

“We are humbled by the turnout of support Chesapeake Cares Food Pantry has received throughout the campaign, and we’re so excited to be able to use the funds to expand our facility. It will help us improve the food distribution area to make it much easier for people in need to access food. We’ll also be able to expand our food storage area, allowing us to provide healthier foods so more families can eat nutritious meals,” said Rev. Robert P. Hahn, Senior Pastor Chesapeake Church, Chesapeake Cares Food Pantry. “We thank Walmart for their generosity and their commitment to reach out to local food pantries, the people who are on the front lines of this fight. Every food pantry in the running was worthy and we all stand shoulder to shoulder in combating the truly solvable problem in our country: hunger.”

The Food Pantry Holiday Makeover campaign launched at a time when food pantries across the country are preparing for their busiest time of year and facing high rates of need, with more than 49 million Americans experiencing food insecurity in 2013i. Meeting this need requires food pantries to not only have food on hand, but be well-equipped to safely store, prepare, and transport the food that will ultimately end up on a family’s table.

“We are so thankful for everyone who voted and for the communities that came together to support their local hunger relief agencies,” said Kathleen McLaughlin, president of the Walmart Foundation and senior vice president of Walmart Sustainability. “Today, the dedicated food pantry staff and volunteers who work so hard to fight hunger can start making plans for the purchase of new equipment and renovations. We hope that these grants will help make the holidays a little brighter not just for the food pantry staff and volunteers, but also, most importantly, for the families served by these organizations.”
The following food pantries earned the most votes from Dec. 2 through Dec. 12 and will receive part of $1.5 million in grants from Walmart:

State City Food Pantry
Alabama Birmingham The Village
Chunchula Georgetown-Chunchula United Methodist Church
Arizona Sahuarita The Good Shepherd Church UCC
Arkansas Fort Smith Christ For The World
Rogers National Council of the United States of St. Vincent de Paul
California Sacramento Daughters of Zion Enterpryz
Vacaville Vacaville Storehouse
Connecticut Andover Andover Food Pantry
Bridgeport Iglesia Adventista Hispana de Bridgeport
New Haven Loaves and Fishes Food Pantry and Clothing Closet
Florida Clewiston Iglesia Misionera Mundial Inc.
Destin Destin Harvest Inc.
Fort Myers Community Cooperative
Salvation Army
Temple Terrace Kingdom Kids of Tampa Bay, Inc.
Georgia Augusta Bible Deliverance Temple
Vineyard Church of Augusta
Carrolton Open Hands United Christian Ministry
Decatur New Life Community Ministries, Inc.
Newnan BTG Community Outreach, Inc.
Woodstock Alive Ministries, Inc.
Hawaii Honolulu River of Life Mission
Wahiawa Surfing The Nations
Illinois Centralia WAMAC Mission of Hope, Inc.
Quincy The Salvation Army of Quincy Illinois
Indiana Brazil St Vincent de Paul Society Annunciation Conference
Iowa Adel Good Samaritan Food Pantry, Inc.
Ames Food at First
Mason City Hawkeye Harvest Food Bank
Quincy Lutheran Church of St. John Food Pantry
Kansas Independence Community Access Center – Independence Food Basket
Louisiana Opelousas Living Waters Community Development Corporation of Louisiana
Maryland Huntingtown Chesapeake Cares Food Pantry
Massachusetts Salem East Gate Christian Fellowship Joseph’s Storehouse Food Pantry
Michigan Jamestown In His Name Ministries, Inc.
Sutton Bay Leelanau Christian Neighbors
Minnesota Blaine Hope For The Community
Burnsville Vineyard Community Services
Golden Valley People Responding in Social Ministry (PRISM)
Grand Rapids Community Cafe Inc.
Moose Lake Moose Lake Area Food Shelf
St. Paul Keystone Community Services
Missouri La Plata La Plata Christian Ministries Food Distribution Center
Mexico The Help Center, Inc.
Nevada Henderson Saint Therese Center HIV Outreach
New York Binghamton First Assembly of God
Canton Church & Community Program
Farmingville Shinnecock Revival Center
North Carolina High Point Helping Hands High Point
Sunbury Changing Today For A Brighter Tomorrow
Thomasville Fairgrove Family Resource Center, Inc.
Ohio Columbus Feed My Sheep Ministries
Gladden Community House
Oklahoma Woodward Woodward Families Helping Families Inc.
Pennsylvania Allison Park North Hills Community Outreach
Erie SSJ Neighborhood Network
Somerset Somerset County Mobile Food Bank Inc.
South Carolina Columbia St. Vincent de Paul Society
Hilton Head Island Sandalwood Community Food Pantry
Tennessee Antioch The Branch of Nashville, Inc.
Clarksville Manna Café Ministries
Nashville The Little Pantry That Could
Texas Houston Kids’ Meals, Inc.
Plano Minnie’s Food Pantry, Inc.
San Antonio Mobile Loaves & Fishes, Inc.
Utah Draper Jesus Feeds Food Pantry
Spanish Fork Tabitha’s Way
Virginia Charlottesville Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry, Inc.
Chilhowie Loaves and Fishes Chilhowie Area Food Pantry, Inc.
Farmville Farmville Area Community Emergency Services
Washington Tacoma St. Leo Food Connection
West Virginia Ashtown Crosslight of Hope, Inc.
Wisconsin Madison The River Food Pantry, Inc.
Verona Verona Area Needs Network
Wyoming Casper Poverty Resistance Food Pantry

The campaign is part of Walmart’s recently announced commitment to create a more sustainable food system, with a focus on improving the affordability of food by lowering the “true cost” of food for both customers and the environment, increasing access to food, making healthier eating easier, and improving the safety and transparency of the food chain. This commitment includes a goal of providing four billion meals to those in need in the U.S. over the next five years. Learn more about Walmart’s work to fight hunger.

 

About Walmart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better — anytime and anywhere — in retail stores, online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, more than 250 million customers and members visit our 11,156 stores under 71 banners in 27 countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries. With fiscal year 2014 sales of over $473 billion, Walmart employs approximately 2 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting http://corporate.walmart.com on Facebook at http://facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmart.

i United States Department of Agriculture. (2014). Household Food Security in the United States in 2013. Retrieved from http://www.ers.usda.gov/media/1565415/err173.pdf

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