Feeding People. Fighting COVID.

Gleaners Food Bank of Indianaapolis received a donation that will provide tens of thousands of meals to struggling Hoosier families. Kroger is especially pleased that this donor is a business partner with products familiar to all of our shoppers. Hormel Foods made the donation in support of Kroger’s Zero Hunger | Zero Waste social impact plan.

Nationally, Hormel committed $150,000 to Feeding America food banks serving Kroger communities across the country. The share for Gleaners is $14,100.

“Obviously, during these crazy times of COVID, you see so many more people in need of food,” said Bill Vincent of Hormel Foods. “You have people that are lining up out the door” at food banks in every community. So, this donation is “very gratifying” for the people of Hormel.

John Elliott, President and CEO of Gleaners, said the donation would become 60,000 meals. “We really appreciate the generosity, and the well-timed generosity,” Elliott said. “Our need has been running at about 220 percent of the 2019 levels. So, when you have more than double the need, you need to more than double the generosity and Kroger and Hormel have stepped up.”

Wednesday’s donation represents the broad recognition of challenges COVID-19 has imposed on American food banks. The donations also represent the importance of collaboration in the work of hunger relief. Kroger encourages other partners, other businesses and its customers to join in this urgent mission.