BJ’s Wholesale Club announced that its charitable arm — BJ’s Charitable Foundation, has made a $50,000 donation to Feeding Tampa Bay, which is a Feeding America member food bank.
The donation from the Westborough, Mass.-based retailer will provide fresh food to those who do not have access to healthy meals and helps celebrate the opening of a new club in Clearwater, Fla., the retailer said.
“BJ’s is committed to nourishing our communities and helping families thrive, and we’re proud to be a long-time supporter of Feeding Tampa Bay,” Kirk Saville, the executive director of BJ’s Charitable Foundation said. “With our new BJ’s club in Clearwater, we’re expanding our partnership with Feeding Tampa Bay to help relieve hunger in West Central Florida.”
In 2018, BJs donated more than 193,000 lbs. of food to Feeding Tampa Bay, which helped provide more than 160,000 meals to those in need.
In addition, the new club, which is scheduled to open on April 13, with the help of the Feeding Communities program will donate unsold produce, meat, poultry, seafood, dairy and bakery products to reduce daily food waste and help those in need, the company said.
“Florida is fourth in the nation for family hunger and one in six people in our region live with daily hunger,” Thomas Mantz, the executive director of Feeding Tampa Bay said. “With BJ’s generous support, we’ll be able to help increase access to fresh, nutritious food to our neighbors in need. We look forward to expanding our partnership with them and make an even larger impact in our community.”