Sack Hunger campaign contributes in a big way to The Food Bank’s mission
During this holiday season, Big Y World Class Markets throughout Western Massachusetts united their loyal customers to help Sack Hunger in our region.
Now in its sixth year, the annual Sack Hunger Campaign asked their customers to make a $10 donation at the check-out register, to purchase a virtual bag filled with staple, non-perishable food items to be donated to The Food Bank.
On Monday, January 15, Big Y delivered 48,726 pounds of food (the equivalent of more than 40,600 meals) to The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts, from donations collected through the 2 month campaign. Some of the items included instant rice, kidney beans, peanut butter, cut green beans, whole kernel corn, chunk light tuna, sweet peas and quick oats.
Big Y’s Sack Hunger campaign will provide more than 40,600 meals in Western Massachusetts
Justin unloads pallets of nutritious food donated by Big Y customers during their Sack Hunger campaign
“We are grateful to our customers who helped to support our friends and neighbors in need,” explains Charles L. D’Amour, Big Y president and COO. “Our Sack Hunger program makes it easy to provide nutritious, non-perishable staple food to those less fortunate within our community.”
This year, The Food Bank will distribute all of the donated food from Sack Hunger through our Brown Bag: Food for Elders program, one of the largest direct-to-client feeding programs in Western Massachusetts. It provides a free bag of healthy groceries to eligible seniors once a month at local senior centers and community organizations. Last year, the Brown Bag program served more than 7,800 seniors that are facing unique challenges that contribute to food insecurity. Many are living on fixed incomes that often force them to choose between paying for food or other necessities, such as healthcare, utilities, or transportation.
Each year, Big Y continues to be one of The Food Bank’s largest contributors. In our last fiscal year (Oct. 1, 2014 – Sept. 30, 2015) they topped all food donors with 635,323 pounds of food, providing nearly 530,000 meals. As Big Y celebrates their 80th anniversary, we are thankful for their commitment to support our mission to feed our neighbors in need. We look forward to honoring Charles D’Amour at our Recipe to End Hunger Spring Social this April.