The Capital Area Food Bank will be able to provide approximately 200,000 additional meals every month to Washington D.C. families with its new mobile food pantry truck donated by Walmart earlier this year and officially unveiled on April 18.
Representatives from both organizations participated in the truck’s official unveiling during a community food distribution at Allen Chapel AME Church in SE Washington, D.C. They were joined by city officials, hunger partners and Ward 8 residents.
Designed as a food pantry on wheels, the truck safely transports fresh fruit, vegetables and other nutritious foods to nonprofit organizations, residential facilities, and meeting places in communities across the city without easy access to resources.
CAFB’s Chief Operating Officer Mark McCaffrey said, “Walmart’s generous truck donation to the Capital Area Food Bank will allow us to expand our mobile pantry outreach to underserved communities. More importantly, it will allow us to distribute more fresh fruits and vegetables to the thousands of families, children, seniors and individuals struggling to get enough food to eat in the Washington metro region.”
“The reality is that hunger is not just a problem during the holiday season, but lasts throughout the entire year,” said Nina Albert, Walmart Senior Director of Community Affairs. The Walmart truck will enable the Capital Area Food Bank to have a widespread reach and impact on the families and residents that need it most.”
The vehicle, valued at $90,000, was actually donated earlier this year to the Capital Area Food Bank and is one of 35 mobile food pantries and refrigerated food trucks that the Walmart Foundation donated to food banks nationwide through a partnership with Feeding America. The donation is part of Walmart’s $19 million holiday 2011 giving campaign to help support U.S. nonprofits dedicated to fighting hunger and providing other basic needs.