Hannaford Helps Fight Hunger program launches in five state

November 04, 2009

SCARBOROUGH, Maine - Hannaford Supermarkets is again making it easy for customers to donate to families in need during the holidays through the Hannaford Helps Fight Hunger program.

A centerpiece of the initiative is Fund a Feast, which since Nov. 1 has featured boxes containing food staples in all 171 Hannaford stores in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York. Shoppers may purchase the boxes for $10 each and place them in a bin for distribution to local food banks and pantries. In return, customers receive a coupon book worth $50 in savings.

"Fund a Feast lets people help their neighbors and receive value for their own families at the same time," said Michael Norton, director of corporate communications for Hannaford. "The program offers a convenient way for our customers to give and to save."

Each Hannaford store selects a local pantry that will benefit from the Fund a Feast donations, and the program lasts as long as the boxes remain available. Last year, the sale of 90,000 boxes - filled with essentials such as tuna, pasta, canned vegetables and soup - generated just under $1 million in goods for food pantries and soup kitchens.

"There's a whole meal in that box," said Ginny White, director of Ginny's Helping Hands Food Pantry in Leominster, Mass. "If you don't know what to give for the holidays, give a box of food from Hannaford to people who really need it."

Food pantries throughout the Northeast are seeing record numbers of people seeking help because of the slow economy.

Preble Street, which operates Maine's largest food pantry, has seen a 30 percent increase in demand from families and senior citizens.

"At least 70 percent of them have never been to a food pantry before," said Mark Swann, executive director of Preble Street, which is based in Portland, Maine. "The work that Hannaford does is crucial to meeting that need."

The second phase of Hannaford Helps Fight Hunger will begin later this month. From Nov. 29 through Dec. 26, shoppers at the checkout register will be able to make cash donations to local food pantries. Also beginning Nov. 29, Hannaford will offer a "buy one, give one" option. When shoppers purchase specially marked Hannaford brand soup, cereal and pasta items, the store will donate the same number of those items to a regional food bank.

Hannaford Supermarkets, based in Scarborough, Maine, operates 171 stores and employs more than 27,000 associates in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York and Vermont. For additional information, visit http://www.hannaford.com/.

November 04, 2009

Press Room