As part of its initiative supporting both consumers and farmers, Publix Super Markets has now donated more than 5 million pounds of food and 350,00 gallons of milk Feeding America food banks throughout the Southeast.
The program is also expanding. Instead of just farmers in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina, Publix will add farmers from Tennessee and Virginia in the next few weeks.
“During these challenging times, we remain committed to working together to find the 5solutions that positively impact our communities in need. We are honored to continue our support of Feeding America member food banks and to purchase produce and milk from farmers across the Southeast,” said Publix CEO Todd Jones. “As the harvest season moves north, so is our initiative, expanding to support additional farmers and serve as many people as possible.”
Some food banks, like the one in South Florida, have received hundreds of thousands pounds of food.
“We have received more than 720,000 pounds of produce and 97,000 gallons of milk from Publix over the last 10 weeks. This has helped us provide food to more than 1 million individuals,” said President and CEO of Feeding South Florida Paco Vélez. “We are grateful to Publix not only for their support of growers, but also Feeding South Florida through this initiative as well as their perishable food and monetary donations all year long.”
Since 2009, Publix has donated more than $2 billion in food and has pledged an an additional $2 billion over the next 10 years.