With flowers blooming and the sun peeking back out again, for many of us, spring is a refreshing time of renewal. There’s one place, however, where this time of year is a little less cheerful: food banks, which see a drop-off in donations after the holidays and strain to serve their clients in need.
Did you know that the USDA estimates that nearly one in six Americans may be struggling with hunger at some point during the year? A lack of food is a problem that affects more of us than we might think. That’s the message in the Walmart commercial above, which began running this month in support of our second Fight Hunger. Spark Change. campaign.
The ad highlights one simple way customers can help their local food banks – by purchasing one of 240 participating products at a Walmart store from now until May 3. But here’s another interesting way we’re asking customers to help: taking selfies.
By asking people to participate through social media, we’re hoping to create a movement that will raise awareness about this issue. For every photo publicly posted with the hashtag #WeSparkChange from now until May 3, Walmart will donate $10, up to a maximum donation of $1.5 million, to Feeding America. And lastly, customers can contribute the old-fashioned way, too – by giving $1, $2 or $5 toward a local Feeding America food bank when they’re already at a Walmart store register.
Because Walmart is America’s largest grocer, hunger is an area where we strongly believe we can make a real difference. Fight Hunger. Spark Change. allows us to put our scale to work in helping to tackle this growing problem by involving our customers and also working with many major food companies.
Every family should have access to affordable, nutritious and sustainably grown food, but unfortunately, that isn’t the reality for millions of people in the U.S. Last fall, our CEO, Doug McMillon, announced Walmart’s commitment to working in four key areas to create a more sustainable food system. Our commitment included a goal of providing 4 billion meals to people in need in the U.S. over the next five years.
By working with Feeding America, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to fighting domestic hunger through a network of member food banks, we can attack hunger not just in larger cities, but also in suburbs and rural communities. If you’re curious about the state of hunger in your area, check out Feeding America’s Map the Meal Gap, an interactive map that pinpoints where the need exists and which food banks are helping.
Hunger is a big problem, but it’s one we hope to
solve through time and more importantly, working together. Fight Hunger. Spark
Change. is one step toward a solution, but we need your help to make it truly
count.