Walmart Funds 66K Meals to Maui Keiki for 2017-18 School Year

The Maui Food Bank received a $55,000 grant from the Walmart Foundation’s Hawai‘i State Giving Council on Tuesday, July 25, to support the agency’s Aloha BackPack Buddies program.

The grant will provide 11,000 backpacks to children-in-need on Maui, or approximately 66,000 meals throughout the 2017-18 school year.

Standing pictured left to right: Jaclyn Mathias, Food Department Manager for Walmart; Ray Taylor, Claims Associate for Walmart; Valerie Namauu, Produce & Bakery Department Manager for Walmart; Sharon Tackmann, Cashier for Walmart; Walmart Lott, Store Manager for Walmart; Rich Yust, Executive Director for Maui Food Bank; Stephanie Kaplan, Community Relations Manager for Maui Food Bank; Tita Mauliola, Agency Coordinator for Maui Food Bank; and kneeling pictured left to right: Chelsea Fuapau, Claims Supervisor for Walmart; and Charles Team, Warehouse Driver for Maui Food Bank. Photo courtesy Sayre PR

“Walmart is proud to be a leader in the fight against hunger and to support local organizations like the Maui Food Bank and others in the communities we serve,” said Walter Lott, store manager of Kahului Walmart. “It’s the right thing to do. No child should ever have to face hunger alone.”

The Walmart Foundation’s State Giving Program supports organizations that create opportunities for people to live better by awarding grants that have a long-lasting and positive impact on communities across the US.

“We are so appreciative of the Walmart Foundation’s continued support of our Maui community outreach and programs like Aloha BackPack Buddies,” said Rich Yust, Executive Director of the Maui Food Bank. “Thanks to Walmart and their Hawai‘i State Giving Council, our community is moving forward on a path towards ending hunger among our island keiki.”

Twenty schools across Maui County participate in the Aloha BackPack Buddies program with Maui Food Bank. The program provides elementary school children, who are on the free and reduced meal program at their school, a pre-filled backpack on Fridays that contains six meals they take home for the weekend. For more details visit here.

In Hawai‘i during FY2017, Walmart and the Walmart Foundation helped local communities with more than $1.74 million in cash and in-kind donations to Hawai‘i nonprofits, and donated 747,000 pounds of food, which is the equivalent of 623,257 meals.