Retailers Buy Into Hunger Cause

CHRISTINA VEIDERS

Food For All would like all in the industry to rally around its cause to end hunger.

“We aren't out to change retailers' priorities,” said Larry McCurry, Food For All chairman. “But we will say, ‘If your charities revolve around hunger relief and feeding the homeless and poor, then Food For All as a marketing organization can help you maximize the potential for those charities.’”

Retailers and suppliers participating in Food For All projects say the payoff can be big and rewarding, especially in supporting charities in their local markets.

Supervalu, Minneapolis, was one of the founding companies of the Food Industry Crusade Against Hunger. Since Supervalu joined the nonprofit in 1986, its legacy retail banners along with its newly acquired Albertsons banners have raised more than $9 million, said Mike Jackson, president and chief operating officer.

“Food For All is one [program] I personally believe in. I'd love to see even more retailers join in this important effort,” he said in a written response.

Jackson described the Food For All program as a “user-friendly, easily deployed program that makes it easy for our shoppers to give back to their communities.” Supervalu has a long tradition of giving back to communities. The Albertsons acquisition, which boosted the wholesaler's store count from about 600 to over 1,700 supermarkets, extends that tradition and allows the distributor to do even more for communities and for Food For All.

A retailer doesn't have to be as big as Supervalu to make a real difference.

Gelson's Markets, an upscale chain of 18 stores in Encino, Calif., has been involved with Food For All since the inception of a POP holiday program back in 1987. Over time, Gelson's implemented the year-round program and continues to run both to this day. A notable fact about Gelson's, said Steve Persitza, vice president of sales and marketing for Food For All's Western region, is “they are an upscale small chain and yet they have raised over $1.5 million. The scope of this is that we only have a handful of accounts that have passed $1 million or more, and all of them are huge chains with a couple hundred stores or more, so to have this little chain achieve those kind of numbers is really incredible.”

C&S Wholesale Grocers, Keene, N.H., is a relative newcomer to the Food For All program. Its stores under Southern Family Markets and Grand Union ran the summer program this year. Grand Union, however, began its relationship with Food For All in 2003 with the year-round program and switched to seasonal campaigns this year.

“We've introduced Food For All in all of our Grand Union family stores as a way for the stores and customers to have an avenue to give back and to address the issue of hunger at the local level,” said Gina Goff, director of C&S corporate giving. The funds raised have been designated to the local America's Second Harvest food bank.

The Food For All staff “makes it smooth and streamlined for us at the corporate level. They do it all with great professionalism and with great passion about the cause of hunger,” Goff added.

According to Denis Zegar, president and chief executive officer of Food For All, Falls Church, Va., more organic and natural supermarkets like Earth Fare, Asheville, N.C., have joined the Food For All cause because of its philosophy of finding sustainable solutions to alleviate hunger.

Earth Fare's mission is to “support the empowerment, development and wellness of our customers and staff by operating a successful business focused on education, fair trade, organic and local foods, and other healthy choices for the environment and ourselves.”

The 13-unit retailer that markets natural and organic foods became a Food For All partner in 2003. It has since raised nearly $22,000.

“The Food For All Program fits in seamless with our other community outreach programs, which include in-store charity benefits, sponsoring health walks and runs, and our award-winning bag recycling program called Friends of Earth Fare,” said Earth Fare spokeswoman Corey Jacobson.

She noted that an attractive component of the program is customization. “Each of our stores can decide the nonprofit in their community that's most in need and deserving of the money raised through the program.”

Another recent Food For All partner is Big Y Foods, Springfield, Mass., which started running programs in 1993. It has raised over $1 million.

“Food For All is unique because you can operate one fund-raiser and fund as many different non-profits as you want. It's the retailer's decision. Many fund-raisers a retailer runs ties you to only one charity; Food For All gives Big Y and our customers the opportunity to fund many,” said John Schnepp, Big Y's director of advertising for the 53-store chain.

Big Y has been running the year-round program. Funds are directed to America's Second Harvest food banks.

Giant Food, Landover, Md., has run its Good Neighbor Food and Funds Drive and Checkout Hunger as a Food For All fund-raiser since 2001. It has raised a total of $2 million for local food banks in its markets that cover Maryland, Virginia, the District of Columbia and Delaware. “Food For All has helped us to develop point-of-sale fund-raising programs that are very turnkey. They provide personnel to set up donation materials at each of our checkouts and they coordinate the printing of all our front-end fund-raising materials,” said Jamie Miller, the 190-store chain's public affairs manager.

The vendor community provides another avenue of support for Food For All. Kellogg's co-sponsorship with Miller Brewing Co. of K-VA-T's Food City “Race Against Hunger” serves as a best practice of what can be achieved when manufacturers and retailers join forces.

This will be Kellogg's second year with the event, which raises about $200,000 each year for Food For All. Kellogg contributed about half of the funding by giving back 10 cents on every Kellogg item purchased. According to Dave Jones, Kellogg's director, Industry & Business Development, brands from three Kellogg divisions participated — Kellogg's Morning Foods, Snacks and Frozen divisions.

“The promotion received great support from weekly and monthly Food City circulars as well as loyalty card mailings,” Jones said.

“Kellogg is proud to support organizations like Food For All that are working to address this important issue.”

Hunger Facts

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 11.9% of all American households were “food insecure” or lacked access to enough food for healthy living in 2004. Currently, over 36 million American are hungry and 13 million of them are children.

While America is one of the richest countries in the world, it also is marked by areas of desperate poverty. During the 2004 Conference of Mayors in Washington, D.C., it was reported that the request for food assistance in major cities across the nation increased by an average of 14% over the previous year. Of those surveyed, 56% of the cities reported they couldn't provide an adequate quantity of food to those in need, and 67% had to decrease the quantity of food provided and/or the number of times someone in need could request assistance.

Although hunger doesn't discriminate, it is more prominent in minority populations. The USDA reports that rates of food insecurity are substantially higher for single mothers and their children, black and Hispanic families, and those who live below the federal poverty line.

Hunger is more prevalent in America's rural communities. Of all non-metro households, 13.1% were food insecure in 2004, according to the USDA. Nearly 15% of the total households served by America's Second Harvest Network reside in rural areas.