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Safeway Inc. of Pleasanton has launched its “Help Us End Hunger” food drive in an effort to help people who rely on the assistance of food banks.
The company is joining with customers, Kraft Foods Group, local food banks and other partners to collect food donations at Safeway stores through Christmas.
To make the donation process easier, a specially-produced Every Bag Counts shopping bag filled with the items food banks need the most will be available for $10 at all Safeway stores. The bag includes Chicken of the Sea Chunk White Tuna, Skippy Peanut Butter, Pantry Essentials Pasta, Hunts Pasta Sauce and Del Monte Canned Vegetables.
Kraft is providing a special holiday gift in the form of a $1,500 grant to 100 food banks across the country, making for a total donation of $150,000.
Teena Massingill of Safeway said the annual Every Bag Counts program is increasingly important as the problem of hunger in America becomes more visible and pronounced. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly 15% of families are food insecure, meaning they lack access to enough food for a healthy diet, she said.
In addition, the campaign helps the food banks during a time when the demand for food assistance is greatest, the holiday season.
Safeway has been a long-time supporter of hunger relief efforts, donating $119 million in food to the cause in 2012, alone, Massingill said.
Why do companies only do this during the holiday season? People are hungry all year long.
Yep, the US spent $80.4B on food stamps in FY12, but that’s not enough. If it weren’t for Safeway (and countless others) badgering their customers to contribute, we’d have starving people everywhere.
Have you ever looked up the definition of “Food Security”? According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (those good folks at the UN), Food security is a condition that “exists when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”.
I think I’m out of bread and my wife has the car at the moment. That makes me food insecure.
Where has critical thinking gone in America? All we focus on is crap that makes us feel good. We take at face value statements that imply there are starving children all over America who will die from malnutrition if we don’t help them out.
For anyone who wants to argue with me – please educate me. Where are these starving people, and why is it necessary for Safeway and others to help out when we pay $80.4B in Federal money to do the same thing?