Walmart and Sam\u2019s Club are helping strengthen hunger relief across Southwest Florida through their annual \u201cFight Hunger. Spark Change.\u201d campaign and year-round food donations that support Harry Chapin Food Bank and its network of more than 175 agency partners.<\/p>\n
Throughout the 13th annual \u201cFight Hunger. Spark Change.\u201d campaign, held April 6-May 3, local shoppers, associates, suppliers and supporters raised $50,202 for Harry Chapin Food Bank to help provide nutritious food to neighbors facing hunger across Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties.<\/p>\n
As Southwest Florida\u2019s largest hunger-relief organization and the region\u2019s only Feeding America partner food bank, Harry Chapin Food Bank serves as the central hub for hunger relief, providing food directly to neighbors through its programs and distributions. Its network of more than 175 agency partners extends that reach, bringing nutritious food to families, children and seniors in the communities they serve.<\/p>\n
Walmart\u2019s support extends beyond financial contributions. Through its year-round food donation program, local Walmart stores provide food that Harry Chapin Food Bank coordinates for distribution through its agency network. Partners such as Interfaith Charities pick up donated food directly from Walmart stores, helping streamline the process and get nutritious food into their communities more efficiently.<\/p>\n
This partnership contributes to Harry Chapin Food Bank\u2019s broader impact, including its recent milestone of 500 million pounds of food distributed since its founding. The support comes at a critical time, when one in seven people and one in five children in Southwest Florida experience food insecurity.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur agency partners are essential to the work we do because they know their communities and the neighbors who need help,\u201d said Richard LeBer, president and CEO of Harry Chapin Food Bank. \u201cWalmart and Sam\u2019s Club help make that work possible through financial support and ongoing food donations. By connecting those resources with our network of local partners, we can get more nutritious food to more people, closer to where they live.\u201d<\/p>\n
The \u201cFight Hunger. Spark Change.\u201d campaign demonstrates what is possible when shoppers, retailers, food manufacturers and hunger-relief organizations work together to support local families. Since 2014, the campaign has generated more than $245 million for Feeding America and local partner food banks nationwide, helping secure more than 2.4 billion meals for people facing hunger ($1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local partner food banks).<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat I love about \u2018Fight Hunger. Spark Change.\u2019 is that it starts right in our communities. It\u2019s a customer or member adding a donation at checkout, an associate volunteering, a food bank team loading a truck or a local pantry helping a family put dinner on the table,\u201d said Kayla Burton, senior manager of cause marketing and customer engagement at Walmart. \u201cAll of those individual actions add up, and we\u2019re proud to work alongside Feeding America and local food banks to help neighbors get the food they need.\u201d<\/p>\n
The campaign builds on more than 20 years of partnership between Walmart, Sam\u2019s Club and Feeding America, which has provided more than $300 million and more than 10 billion pounds of food to help nourish communities nationwide.<\/p>\n
Beyond the annual campaign, Walmart\u2019s year-round food donations and investments help strengthen hunger-relief operations, allowing food banks and their community partners to rescue, transport and distribute more food to people who need it.<\/p>\n
Harry Chapin Food Bank encourages community members to help address hunger by volunteering, advocating or donating. To learn more, visit HarryChapinFoodBank.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n About the Harry Chapin Food Bank<\/p>\n Harry Chapin Food Bank is the largest hunger-relief organization and only Feeding America member in Southwest Florida, serving Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties. Through its Feeding Network of more than 175 agency partners and direct-service programs, the food bank provides nutritious food and resources to neighbors throughout the region. In 2026, Harry Chapin Food Bank distributed 40 million pounds of food, including 16 million pounds of fresh produce, and serves more than 300,000 neighbors each month. Its mission is to lead our community in the fight to end hunger. Harry Chapin Food Bank is an Agency Partner of United Way, Blueprint Partner of the Naples Children Foundation, a Four-Star Charity rated by Charity Navigator and Platinum-rated by Candid. For more information, visit HarryChapinFoodBank.org<\/a> or call 239-334-7007.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Walmart and Sam\u2019s Club are helping strengthen hunger relief across Southwest Florida through their annual \u201cFight Hunger. Spark…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":445413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[209,211,210],"class_list":["post-445412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral","tag-cape-coral-headlines","tag-cape-coral-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=445412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}