Wal-Mart pledges $2 billion in food and grants to fight hunger

Wal-Mart announced plans Wednesday to donate $2 billion over five years to food banks and hunger relief organizations, one of the largest charitable efforts that the nation's largest grocer has undertaken.

The Bentonville, Ark.-based chain said it will give more than 1.1 billion pounds of food -- from packaged goods to fresh produce -- to food banks and other nonprofit groups. It also is providing $250 million in grants to hunger-relief groups, including $6 million to buy refrigerated trucks for Feeding America and $2 million to the National Recreation and Park Association's summer food program for children. Wal-Mart said it is lending its expertise in logistics to help nonprofit organizations deliver and store food more efficiently.

"Increasingly, we see opportunities to use this scale and reach to solve challenges in our community," said Eduardo Castro-Wright, head of the retailer's U.S. operations, at a news conference on Capitol Hill.

Wal-Mart has partnered with several lawmakers, government agencies and nonprofit groups for the initiative. The Congressional Hunger Center, the House and Senate hunger caucuses and the Department of Agriculture backed the effort.

"No one sector can solve this alone," USDA Undersecretary Kevin Concannon said.

The announcement comes as Wal-Mart continues its efforts to expand from the rural and suburban markets it has saturated into more urban areas. It has scouted locations in Chicago, New York and Washington and met strong resistance from politicians and union leaders, who charge that it pushes smaller stores out of business and pays low wages. But many urban and low-income consumers lack access to healthy foods at affordable prices, and Castro-Wright said that makes them a prime market for Wal-Mart.

"You find this increased paradox in America where those who have the most need have the least access," he said in an interview.

Other retailers have also identified hunger as a central issue. On Tuesday, Target said it would donate $3.5 million and 20 million pounds of food to hunger relief organizations, and a recent "Bag Hunger" program by Macy's collected $2.3 million and more than 200,000 pounds of food.