Walmart Foundation pledges nearly $4M to fight hunger in Texas

Walmart is doing its part to help combat hunger in Texas via its philanthropic arm.

The Walmart Foundation announced that is awarding nearly $4 million in grants to organizations working to fight hunger in the Lone Star state — Brighter Bites and Baylor University’s Texas Hunger Initiative.

According to Feeding America, Texas is currently home to 10% of the nation’s food-insecure individuals, where more than four million people struggle with hunger.

In addition to food insecurity, only 10% of Texans are meeting the CDC’s recommended daily vegetable intake, and only 12% meet the daily recommended fruit intake, the company said.

“As the nation’s largest grocer, Walmart is in a unique position to create effective and sustainable solutions to help combat food insecurity in the communities we serve,” Julie Gehrki, the vice president of philanthropy at Walmart, said. “By leveraging the strengths of our business and engaging with the right partners on the ground through philanthropic investments, we’re supporting innovative programs that both address immediate needs locally and strengthen the broader meal system.”

A nearly $1.3 million grant looks to support Brighter Bites initiatives, which are focused on increasing the access to fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as nutrition education to prevent obesity and improve health outcomes for low-income children and families.

“Far too many households in Texas are faced with food insecurity and lack of proper nutrition,” Rich Dachman, the CEO of Brighter Bites said. “It’s our goal to change that by increasing access to healthy, nutritious foods for more families.”

Just as well, the Baylor Collaborative on Hunger and Poverty, the Texas Hunger Initiative, or THI, is a collaborative project dedicated to developing and implementing strategies to end hunger through policy, education, research, community organizing and community development.

The Walmart Foundation dedicated a grant of $2,600,000 to THI to use over 24 months to increase access to healthy food through learning labs, direct outreach, research and policy engagement, as well as piloting community-based programs.

“This grant from the Walmart Foundation will help us work to end food insecurity in our communities,” Jeremy Everett, the founder and executive director of the Texas Hunger Initiative at Baylor University, said. “Our goal with this grant is to identify solutions that can be scaled and replicated to combat hunger in Texas and beyond.”