Lidl US donates turkeys, matches donations in stores

Lidl is stepping up against hunger relief this Thanksgiving, donating more than 3,000 turkeys to four local area food banks and donating proceeds from $5 hunger relief bags available for purchase inside its U.S. stores.

The retailer out of Germany operates more than 11,200 stores in 32 countries and more than 110 stateside. The Thanksgiving promotion benefits food banks at Capital Area Food Bank in Washington, D.C., Project Hospitality in Staten Island, N.Y., Second Harvest Food Bank in Charlotte, and the Atlanta Community Food Bank in Atlanta. 

The regions are where Lidl has stores and where shoppers can purchase a hunger relief bag during checkout. Lidl will match each donating purchase up to 10,000 bags and will distribute the hunger relief bags to locally affiliated Feeding America food banks. Each bag will carry shelf-stable items like tuna, pasta and canned vegetables.

“Lidl is proud to partner with great local food banks and pantries across our markets to help alleviate hunger in our communities,”  said Stefan Schwarz, Lidl US chief commercial officer and executive vice president of purchasing. “In this year of even greater need, we are happy to launch a holiday giving campaign that will help put more food on the table for thousands of families celebrating the holidays. Our team is happy to work closely with Feeding America food banks across nine states to accomplish this goal.”

Lidl employees will also be volunteering at food banks for the holiday. The hunger relief bags will be on sale starting Nov. 11.

“Over 553,000 people in our 24 county service region live at or below the poverty level, including 188,000 children and almost 48,000 seniors,” said Kay Carter, Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina CEO.  “It is important for us to provide our agency partners with healthy food, and we are thankful to Lidl for helping us make sure that there will be a Thanksgiving meal for children, families, seniors, and veterans who struggle with hunger.”