Wegmans customers raise $2.5M for hunger relief

Wegmans Food Markets customers raised more than $2.5 million during the company’s fall 2024 hunger relief checkout scanning campaign.

Known regionally as Check Out Hunger or Together Against Hunger, the initiative allows customers to donate any amount at checkout, with all proceeds going to each store’s local Feeding America food bank partner, according to a news release.

“Our scan campaigns bring awareness to the rising issue of hunger in our community and make it easy for our customers to donate to their local food banks,” said Linda Lovejoy, community relations manager for Wegmans. “We cannot thank our customers and employees enough for their generosity during these campaigns each year.”

The company said money raised during the annual checkout campaign is critical to the work the recipient food banks do throughout the year.

“Wegmans’ Check Out Hunger campaign has been the most critical fundraiser for Foodlink for more than 30 years,” said Julia Tedesco, president and CEO for Foodlink. “Our food-banking operations and many of our programs that address the root causes of food insecurity rely on this annual campaign to serve thousands of our neighbors, and we are grateful to Wegmans and their customers for this ongoing support.”

The 2024 companywide campaign ran from Oct. 23 through Nov. 30, however, in response to Hurricane Helene, Wegmans’ four North Carolina stores launched their efforts early on Oct. 1 to assist with disaster relief efforts, the release said.

“When the hurricane hit, so many people, including our employees and customers, were looking for a safe, secure way to help their neighbors in need,” Lovejoy said. “We opened our scan campaign early to fill that need, and we were blown away by the results; customers donated more than double what was raised in 2023.”

Food bank recipients

The list below includes each recipient food bank, the amount donated in 2024, and the Wegmans stores where the money was raised:

Delaware

• Food Bank of Delaware — $10,214 (Wilmington).

District of Columbia

• Bread for the City — $6,338 (Wisconsin Avenue).

Maryland

• Anne Arundel County Food Bank — $15,139 (Crofton).
• Frederick Department of Housing and Human Services — $15,068 (Frederick).
• Harford Community Action Agency — $10,922 (Bel Air).
• Howard County Community Action Council — $18,626 (Columbia).
• Manna Food Center — $10,417 (Germantown).
• Maryland Food Bank $24,000 (Hunt Valley and Owings Mills).
• Shabach Ministries and Capital Area Food Bank — $8,335 (Woodmore).

Massachusetts

• Greater Boston Food Bank — $79,361 (Burlington, Chestnut Hill, Medford, Westwood).
• Worcester County Food Bank — $22,686 (Northborough).

New Jersey

• Community Food Bank of New Jersey — $41,344 (Bridgewater, Woodbridge and Montvale).
• Fulfill — $29,776 (Ocean and Manalapan).
• Food Bank of South Jersey — $32,355 (Cherry Hill and Mt. Laurel).
• Interfaith Food Pantry — $16,804 (Hanover).
• Mercer Street Friends — $8,816 (Princeton).

New York

• Campaign Against Hunger — $1,846 (Brooklyn).
• City Harvest and Food Bank for NYC — $7,771 (Astor Place).
• FeedMore WNY — $444,769 (11 stores in the greater Buffalo area).
• Foodlink — $705,289 (21 stores in the greater Rochester area).
• Food Bank of Central New York, Rescue Mission, and Salvation Army — $96,293 (nine stores in the greater Syracuse area).
• Food Bank of the Southern Tier — $222,519 (Hornell, Corning, Elmira, Ithaca and Johnson City).
• Second Harvest — $76,331 (West Erie and Peach Street).
• Westchester County Food Bank — $7,417 (Harrison).

North Carolina

• Food Bank of Central Eastern North Carolina — $116,422 (All four stores in the North Carolina division).

Pennsylvania

• Bucks County Opportunity Council — $28,334 (Warrington and Yardley).
• Chester County Food Bank — $44,215 (Downingtown and Malvern).
• Cluster Outreach Center — $24,900 (Collegeville).
• Food Bank of Central PA — $19,128 (Harrisburg and Williamsport).
• Food Bank of State College — $9,437 (State College).
• Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank — $19,917 (Dickson City and Wilkes-Barre).
• Lancaster County Food Hub and Water Street Mission — $18,898 (Lancaster).
• Manna on Main Street — $16,437 (Montgomeryville).
• Philabundance — $31,564 (King of Prussia and Concordville).
• Second Harvest Food Bank of Lehigh Valley & Northeast Pennsylvania — $53,343 (Allentown, Bethlehem and Nazareth).

Virginia

• ACTS — $30,537 (Potomac Mills).
• Alive! — $10,719 (Carlyle).
• Blue Ridge Area Food Bank — $15,083 (Charlottesville).
• Capital Area Food Bank — $22,057 (Alexandria).
• FeedMore — $21,636 (Midlothian and Short Pump).
• Food Bank of Southeastern VA and Eastern Shore — $7,504 (Virginia Beach).
• Food for Others — $46,807 (Fairfax, Reston, and Tysons Corner).
• Fredericksburg Area Food Bank — $12,818 (Fredericksburg).
• Loudoun Hunger Relief — $25,918 (Dulles and Leesburg).
• SERVE — $14,420 (Lake Manassas).
• Western Fairfax Christian Ministries — $19,426 (Chantilly).

Since its inception over 30 years ago, Wegmans' Check Out Hunger campaign has raised more than $55 million for hunger relief, the release said. Every June, Wegmans stores also hold a companywide Fill the Bus campaign to help local food banks stock up for their summer meal programs. In 2024, these two scan campaigns raised more than $3.2 million to help reduce hunger, the company said.

Wegmans said its stores also provide daily food donations of unsaleable perishable foods to local food banks, financial assistance via corporate gifts and sponsorship for various events or fundraisers.