Food for Fairview has been the grateful recipient of a bountiful harvest of blessings from our across the street neighbor, Food Lion, for many years and in many different ways, ranging from corporate grants to food donations. This past holiday season, however, found us with particular reason to be thankful for our neighbors.
Food Lion recently revamped – and renamed – their community involvement program, calling it Food Lion Feeds. The name change reflects the company’s commitment to making the elimination of hunger in the communities they serve a priority. According to company community relations spokesperson Courtney James, “At Food Lion we believe no one should have to choose between dinner and paying rent or gasoline and buying groceries. That’s why Food Lion Feeds is so important. Together with our customers, associates, and partners, we believe we can create a better tomorrow by uniting to eliminate the choices families are forced to make when they are hungry.”
This past holiday season, Food Lion partnered with customers from November 19th through December 23rd to help solve hunger through its Food Lion Feeds “Holidays Without Hunger” campaign. Customers were able to purchase and donate a specially-marked “Holidays Without Hunger” food box for $5.00 or make a cash donation at checkout. We are delighted to announce that our Fairview store was recognized as the first place fundraiser winner in their region, out of 23 stores! The store sold 2,142 boxes and $1,423.00 in cash donations were collected, resulting in the equivalent of 24,000 meals being donated directly to Food for Fairview!
According to local store manager Scott Prince, “The associates really took ownership and made it happen.” For each food box sold or donation collected, the individual associate would announce on the store intercom, “Another Fairview family fed!” greatly contributing to the sense of excitement and interest in what became, essentially, a community event.
Many thanks to everyone at Food Lion – and to all their great customers – for their participation in this wonderful and much appreciated program!
left to right: Pam Pride, Amy Fite (behind), Kim Bartow (in front of Amy), Mindy Griffin, Scott Prince, store manager