Maryland Food Bank Receives $750K Walmart Grant to Expand Food Rescue Efforts

On June 10, the Maryland Food Bank announced a $750,000 grant from Walmart and Feeding America—an exciting investment that will help us rescue and distribute even more food to our neighbors in need.

This investment is part of a multi-year partnership aimed at strengthening connections between food banks, community partners, and local retailers. Through the Retail Agency Capacity Grant, MFB will be able to provide food pantries and meal programs across the state with the equipment, vehicles, and staffing they need to recover more fresh, frozen, and shelf-stable foods directly from grocers.

Last year alone, we helped facilitate the donation of 10.8 million meals through food rescue efforts—a 3.3 million pound increase over 2022. With this new funding, we’re setting our sights even higher, with a goal of rescuing enough food to provide 13 million meals annually.

“Increasing access to food is key to Walmart’s purpose to help people to live better, and we’ve been working with Feeding America for the past 20 years to help local food banks and agencies recover and distribute more food donations,” said Julie Gehrki, Senior Vice President at Walmart and President of the Walmart Foundation. “We’re honored to build on this work through our support of the Maryland Food Bank. We look forward to collaborating to get more fresh food to people who need it.”

Thanks to the continued support of Walmart, we’re expanding our ability to connect more nutritious food with Marylanders facing hunger—while also reducing food waste in our communities. This grant is one of many awarded to food banks across the Feeding America network, part of a $15.75 million commitment from Walmart to improve food recovery efforts nationwide.