For the last 16 years, Inter-Faith Food Shuttle has partnered with Food Lion and the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation to create a hunger free community in central North Carolina. This partnership has made a difference in the lives of neighbors throughout the region, as the grocery store chain and its charitable foundation have provided funding to a variety of Food Shuttle program initiatives over the course of the last year in excess of $75,000—and that support continues to grow.
In March of this year, Food Lion Feeds sponsored the ACC Recipe Tournament, for which the Foundation would donate one meal per vote to a local food bank. The winner of the tournament was NC State University’s recipe for pulled pork BBQ sliders, and the Food Shuttle received 10,000 meals for neighbors in need. A delicious win-win situation!
Thanks to a 2020 Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation innovation grant award and in partnership with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of NC, the Food Shuttle launched the Spinning Plate food truck in spring of 2021 and has to date, served over 11,000 meals. Shortly following that, team members from Food Lion joined Food Shuttle and Blue Cross NC staff to pack Emergency Preparedness Kits for distribution to families ahead of hurricane season. The Kits were then given out at community meal distributions served up by the Food Shuttle’s Spinning Plate food truck.
The Food Shuttle was selected to receive a $10,000 Child Hunger Grant in July, thanks to the Food Lion Feeds Charitable Foundation. In North Carolina, one in five children faces hunger. The Food Lion investment will support start-up, sustainment, and expansion of child hunger programming, such as BackPack Buddies, School Pantries, Mobile Markets, and more, helping to ensure that children in our community will get the nutrition they need to grow and thrive.
In November, Food Lion made a significant gift to support hunger relief efforts with the donation of $50,000 in gift cards to be distributed to families in need. These gift cards were a part of Food Lion’s Holidays without Hunger campaign and distributed through Mobile Markets, schools and local agency partners, to provide substantial assistance at a time when food prices were rising dramatically.
Food Lion has been a long-time partner of the Food Shuttle’s Community Health Education “Cooking Matters” program. As part of this program, participants receive a $10 grocery store gift card. Food Lion provided $10,000 in gift cards to the program in 2021, which has inestimable value to the continued success of the program and the people it serves.
And finally, as the regular college football season draws to a close, so does the Food Lion Sack to Give Back Program for another year. The gist is that for every sack the UNC defense makes this season, Food Lion Feeds will donate 1,000 meals to feed neighbors in need. The check will be presented Saturday, November 20 when the Tarheels play the Wofford Terriers.
“Our shared belief that no one should go hungry makes for a strong foundation of partnership in the service to our community,” shares L. Ron Pringle, President and CEO of Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. “Especially during this season of thanks, we extend our gratitude for Food Lion’s ongoing commitment to nourish our local communities.”