Company : Raley's
Program category : 2014

Origins:

Raley’s Food For Families program was founded in 1986 by Joyce Raley Teel and former Raley’s President Chuck Collings. What began as a simple holiday food drive quickly grew to a year round effort to fight hunger. Operating as a true community partnership, Raley’s Food For Families now raises funds in a variety of ways – at the check stand, online, on Facebook, and even through mobile messaging. In addition, all Raley’s, Bel Air, Nob Hill Foods, and Food Source stores donate unsellable grocery and food products to Food For Families partner food banks. Items donated are unable to be sold for a variety of reasons, but they’re still perfectly safe to be consumed. By getting these products into the hands of those who need them, our Food For Families food rescue program not only diverts usable food from unnecessarily entering the waste stream, it’s also an important source of daily donations for hundreds of food banks across our region.

Contribution:

We believe local is best, so we empower our partners to put donations to work for the greatest impact in their communities. There are 73 Food For Families food bank partners across Central California, Northern California and Nevada. These partners tell us what’s most needed in their communities, and Food For Families provides them with a fresh, healthy solution – including fresh fruits and vegetables! Because of our unique model, we’re able to make donations go farther. Food For Families combines the purchasing power of Raley’s Family of Fine Stores, along with store product donations, to make every gift have greater impact. Even better, because Raley’s absorbs all administrative costs of the program, 100% of every donation goes directly to feeding the hungry. Every penny. Every gift.

Objectives:

Our vision is simple: We aim to end hunger locally by providing fresh and healthy food to those who need it most. It's about getting real food to real families.

Impact:

Since 1986, Raley’s Food For Families program has helped raise over $31 million and donated over 21 million pounds of food to fight hunger. Food For Families donations have helped provide over 19 million meals to men, women, and children battling hunger in our neighborhoods through our local food banks.

Quote:

Our vision for Food For Families is to offer greater access to fresh produce. We know that families facing hunger are far less likely to eat a nutritionally complete diet and their access to fresh fruits and vegetables is often limited. By making fresh produce available to our partner food banks, we can help reverse this trend. -Jennifer Teel-Wolter

Support Statement:

“We would not be able to feed the hungry in the community without this program explained.The Food For Families donations represent about one-third of the food we receive.” - John Healey, President and CEO of California Emergency Foodlink.