H-E-B has donated more than 1.5 billion pounds of food items to food banks since launching its hunger relief initiatives more than four decades ago
September is Hunger Action Month, but fighting hunger is a year-round effort at H‑E‑B. Nearly every day, food banks across Texas pick up fresh food from H‑E‑B stores to help support families across the state. With a deep commitment to feeding Texans, H‑E‑B, through its Hunger Relief program, has put an emphasis on donating fresh foods that has enabled delivering nutritious, wholesome food to families’ plates.
Since these donations go beyond shelf-stable items such as bread and canned foods, the 18 partnering food banks and their agencies send refrigerated trucks and other equipment to H‑E‑B stores to preserve quality and freshness. With more frequent pickups, food banks benefit from H‑E‑B’s fresh food options that normally have shorter shelf lives, such as deli meats and cheeses, fresh cut fruit selections, and H‑E‑B Meal Simple chef-inspired meals.
Many food banks in Texas also operate commercial kitchens that incorporate donated ingredients to make wholesome, well-rounded meals.These food donations come at a crucial at a time, when more than six million Texans are facing food insecurity, according to data from Feeding Texas. Currently, nearly 1 in 5 Texas households are food insecure and 1 in 4 Texas children experience hunger, the organization reports.
“[The change to near-daily pickups] has been a powerful catalyst for our mission, driving a significant increase in resources for the South Texas Food Bank since its launch,” said Andrew Garza, Lead Food Sourcing Coordinator, South Texas Food Bank. “This partnership ensures that high-quality, surplus food reaches families who need it most, nourishing our community and turning potential loss into hope.”
For more than 120 years, H‑E‑B has remained committed to fighting hunger and supporting those in need. Day in and day out, H‑E‑B works with nonprofit organizations fighting food insecurity such as Feeding Texas, Feeding America, and the Global Food Banking Network.
Throughout the year, the retailer regularly makes food donations, provides monetary and volunteer support, and activates outreach events such as H‑E‑B’s Summer of Sharing, a statewide activation that provides nutrition to families during the summer months, when food from school meal programs is not available. And every holiday season, H‑E‑B holds its Feast of Sharing events, where more than 340,000 meals are served at 34 holiday dinners across Texas and Mexico.
“At H‑E‑B, we are passionate about taking care of Texans and work hard to provide fresh, nutritious food to organizations whose mission is to help families avoid hunger,” said Daniel Flores, H‑E‑B Senior Manager of Public Affairs and Hunger Relief. “We are proud of our longstanding partnerships and deeply committed to supporting the many dedicated organizations that work to combat hunger across Texas throughout the year.”
During Hunger Action Month this September, H‑E‑B also activated its Help End Hunger donation campaign, which allows customers to make monetary donations while checking out in store and online. The donation campaign runs through October 6, and all donations collected will benefit food banks that are part of the Feeding Texas network.
At H‑E‑B, our goal is to get food on the plates of Texans. In the event food cannot be sold or donated or scraps are left behind during processing, H‑E‑B works hard to keep food out of the landfills by turning the leftovers into soil-enriching compost and biofuels. H‑E‑B recycles everything from produce trimmings, bakery items such as leftover dough, and even wooden pallets that are turned into wood chips and mulch. Additionally, inedible materials such as cooking oils and meat trimmings are turned into sustainable biofuels. These efforts amount to tens of millions of pounds of materials that are kept out of landfills every year and, instead, given a second life.
