Monday, April 4, 2016 A Hannaford Supermarkets program designed to help both the environment and local people in need has surpassed two significant milestones: more than 500,000 meals provided to fight hunger and $100,000 raised to support local community groups, according to a news release from the grocery store chain.
In recognition of these accomplishments, Hannaford will donate $2 to a local charity for every Hannaford Helps bag and contribute the equivalent of two nutritious meals for each Fight Hunger bag purchased in April — a 100 percent match of the standard donations.
Hannaford’s cause-related shopping bag program has two parts:
- Fight Hunger bags — Hannaford contributes enough money to buy one meal to a food bank in our region when someone buys one of these reusable brown-and-yellow bags. The program began 22 months ago and has funded more than 566,000 meals at local food pantries, meals programs and food banks so far.
- Hannaford Helps bags — the grocer donates $1 to a nearby nonprofit group, chosen by that customer’s local supermarket, for every one of these blue bags sold. The initiative started five months ago and has raised more than $100,000 in donations for 561 community groups.
Causes benefiting from the Hannaford bag program in Maine include organizations as diverse as the Good Shepherd Food Bank, youth sports, disability-support agencies, community centers, arts organizations, humane societies, children’s programs and dozens of other local groups.