This is the last in a series of profiles on the 2020 Giraffe Award winners. Each week leading up to the Champions for Children virtual celebration on November 17th, we will feature a profile of a 2020 Giraffe Award Winner and showcase how they “stick out their neck” for Maine children, youth, and families. This week, we are pleased to introduce you to Hannaford.

Hannaford has made a significant commitment to eradicating child hunger in Maine and across the Northeast, with both food and financial donations. The Scarborough-based chain is working to establish food pantries in 90 schools across Maine and other nearby states as part of an initiative called Fuel Kids at School. During the COVID crisis, Hannaford has also stepped forward to help provide hunger relief.

In 2019 alone, Hannaford directly donated more than 24.4 million pounds of food to pantries, meal programs, and food banks, including more than 9.7 million pounds of food just in Maine. And in response to the pandemic, since March 2020, Hannaford has donated $1.25 million to COVID-19 relief efforts. 

Hannaford also recently announced a commitment of $1 million and pledged to establish food pantries at schools across the Northeast. The Fuel Kids at School initiative is intended to directly address childhood hunger by bringing food into schools and Head Start programs where children can choose fresh and healthy foods. Here in Maine, $300,000 has already been given to Good Shepherd Food Bank to create pantries in 30 Head Start programs.

“The correlation between access to nutritious food and early childhood development and learning makes Head Start locations the ideal match for our next phase of school-based pantries,” said Kristen Miale, president of Good Shepherd Food Bank. “We know that expanding our pantry sites to serve pre-school-aged children and their families will play an important role in ensuring a bright future for Maine’s youngest citizens.”

Hannaford also stepped forward to make shopping safer for at-risk customers using SNAP benefits to purchase groceries during the COVID-19 crisis, by extending their “to-go” curbside pickup service. By expanding their Point of Sale systems to enable EBT payments car-side, Hannaford was able to offer a safer and more convenient process for Mainers concerned about shopping indoors given the health concerns of COVID-19.

Hannaford  will be awarded a 2020 Giraffe Award for its significant efforts to address food insecurity and child hunger in Maine on November 17th at our Champions for Children celebration.

Don’t forget to join us for the 2020 Champions for Children and Giraffe Awards event !