During the recent holiday food drive, QFC & Fred Meyer customers purchased a $10 Virtual Bag of healthy and nutritious food. The funds raised allowed the grocer to source and distribute $330,752 in nutrient dense food. Delivered on February 15, 2024 to Food Lifeline’s Hunger Solution Center, our receiving and volunteer production team quickly go to work sorting and repacking this donation for distribution to our 296 network partners throughout Western Washington, proving our neighbors facing hunger with the equivalent of more than 1.5 MILLION meals.
“In our last fiscal year, we saw the need spike dramatically as we served more than 1.6 million neighbors across Western Washington with food assistance ”, says Chief Development Officer Ryan Scott, “As cost of living continues to stretch our local families’ budgets, we rely on the significant support of our friends at Fred Meyer/QFC and are extremely grateful for their generous gift.”
Casey Crane, Food Resources and Volunteer Production Director, says “this donation provides 5 truckloads of nutritionally dense food that not only directly supports our community members experiencing food insecurity, but in turn reduces the volume of quality consumable food that often ends up in landfills and increases carbon emissions.”
Food Lifeline is grateful to Fred Meyer/QFC for investing in the mission to end hunger both in food and environmental stewardship. “Fred Meyer/QFC is on a mission to end hunger in the places we call home,” says Tiffany Sanders, manager of corporate affairs for Fred Meyer and QFC stores. “There is a fundamental absurdity in our food system: 35% of the food produced in the U.S. is thrown away, yet an estimated 42 million Americans struggle with hunger.”
This donation is a continuation of Fred Meyer/QFC’s deep commitment to ending hunger. During 2023, Fred Meyer/QFC directed a record one-year total of 2.1 million meals to local food banks to fight food insecurity and hunger in the state of Washington. At the same time, Fred Meyer/QFC associates have rescued 594,000 thousand pounds of wholesome food from stores, food processing plants and distribution centers, meaning 460,257 meals provided by reclaimed food.
Here’s a partial list of products that will be arriving at our partners this week:
- Mixed Vegetables
- 100% Whole Grain Oats
- Long Grain White Rice
- Lentil Beans
- Navy Beans
- Chunk Light Tuna in Water
- Creamy Peanut Butter
- Soy Sauce
- Diced Tomatoes
- Pure Vegetable Oil
