Grocery Outlet is renewing its annual Independence from Hunger program to collect donations for local food banks though the month of July. Customers are asked to partner in the program, with each Grocery Outlet helping out a nearby food bank.
July is a notoriously tough month for food banks as the attention of the holidays is long gone, and many kids who participate in school free lunch programs during the academic year are on summer break, putting an additional demand on needy families. We live in an area with a high cost of living and many families in our communities rely on food banks to keep their family fed. My kids’ school is heavily involved with Second Harvest food bank and it’s amazing how much kids get into helping raise awareness of hunger issues, especially those of kids their age who struggle during the summer without free meals at school.
Customers can help in several ways:
- Purchase items that are marked in the store as being in high demand at food banks, then donate those purchases.
- Buy a pre-packed bag of groceries earmarked for the local food bank.
- Donate money at the cash register or even round up a purchase. All donations will go directly to the store’s food bank partner.
Last year’s food and monetary donations equalled $300,000, and the amount had gone up each of the three years of the program. The campaign runs the entire month of July. The partner food banks for each store include:
| Pinole: 1460 Fitzgerald Dr. | Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano |
| Geary: 6333 Geary Blvd. | The Food Security Collective |
| South City: 125 Hickey Blvd. | St Vincent De Paul |
| Novato: 1535 S. Novato Blvd. | Marin County Food Bank, Christ Church North Bay |
| Visitacion Valley: 2630 Bayshore Blvd. | Red Cross |
| Palo Alto: 3445 Alma St. | InnVision Shelter Network |
