Wal-Mart to spend $2 billion on food donations, grants for hunger relief in next 5 years

Wal-Mart to spend $2B for hunger relief efforts

NEW YORK — Wal-Mart Stores plans to significantly ramp up its donations to the nation’s food banks to $2 billion over the next five years.

The retail giant’s announcement Wednesdsay comes as one in eight Americans are receiving food stamps and food banks are straining to meet demand.

Wal-Mart’s plan comes in two parts: At least $250 million in grants over five years will go to efforts like buying refrigerated trucks to aid distribution.

The bulk of the donations will consist of more than 1.1 billion pounds of food to food banks. That’s about 1 billion meals.

Wal-Mart Foundation President Margaret McKenna says the company and its foundation are now making hunger relief their main charitable focus because the need is now greater.