Press Room
God’s Pantry Food Bank Granted New Truck from Feeding America to Support Retail Store Donation Program
God’s Pantry Food Bank will be receiving a brand new 24-foot refrigerated truck to help support its retail store donation program with Kroger and Wal-Mart. The truck was granted to the food bank from Feeding America and the Lincy Foundation last month.
The retail store donation program was developed by Feeding America to help facilitate the donation of product close to its expiration date to local food banks. The program has been instituted in many retail chains across the country and God’s Pantry Food Bank is benefiting from donations made locally by Kroger and Wal-Mart. The program was implemented locally in late 2008 and currently picks up product at 37 separate stores in our service area more than three times a week.
Additionally, 49 more stores are slated to begin participation in the program in the coming weeks. While some of those stores will have their product picked up directly from God’s Pantry Food Bank member agencies in the area, the food bank will add another 44 stores to its pickup routes.
“Kroger is committed to the fight to end hunger and we are proud of our partnership with God’s Pantry Food Bank,” Kroger spokesperson Tim McGurk said. “While the Lexington-area Kroger stores are currently participating with God’s Pantry in the Perishable Donation Partnership, this new truck will allow all of our central Kentucky stores to be included. We look forward to expanding Kroger’s donations of fresh, nutritious meats through this partnership.”
The retail store donation program has been invaluable to God’s Pantry Food Bank over the past 10 months. Since its inception, the program has brought in more than 140,000 pounds of frozen and refrigerated product to the food bank. In addition, another 143,000 pounds of dry goods and 150,000 pounds of bakery product have been donated from the stores.
“This vehicle will make it possible for our food bank to access and distribute great high-quality product that was not available to us before,” Marian Guinn, God’s Pantry Food Bank CEO, said. “We are thrilled with the store donation program and the great meats and other grocery product it has added to our inventory. Ultimately, it’s partnerships like this that enable us to offer hope to many families in our communities. “
Before receiving this vehicle, the food bank estimated that it was at 95% of its trucking capacity and would not have been able to add the additional stores to the pickup schedule.