Salt Lake hunger-fighting charities win $1 million in grants from Walmart

SALT LAKE CITY — Utahns "like" Wal-Mart. They really "like" Wal-Mart.

Or at least they like the fact that the world's largest retailer awarded a $1 million grant to hunger-fighting charities in Salt Lake City, a portion of which will go to the Utah Food Bank. Meanwhile, the Ogden-Clearfield area will receive $100,000.

Salt Lake earned the highest number of online votes in Wal-Mart's nationwide Fighting Hunger Together contest. At the Utah Food Bank, funds will be used to further the agency's mission of serving 150 food pantries and food bank across the state.

Of the 10 million votes cast, more than half were for the two Utah communities, Wal-Mart officials said Wednesday.

"To say we're over the moon would be an understatement," said Utah Food Bank spokeswoman Jessica Pugh. Volunteers and staff crowded around a computer to await the official announcement. The good news was met with cheering, fist pumps and tears of joy.

"They (online voters) never gave up on us or Ogden," Pugh said.

The high level of participation reflected "the real united front Utah has when it comes to providing to those less fortunate in Utah," she said.

Utah Food Bank's board directors will meet to decide how best to use the grant to feed needy Utahns, Pugh said.

Other cash donations to the food bank are used to purchase food and the food bank's transportation network.

Thanks to an extensive volunteer workforce, 85 full-time employees and relationships with the food industry, every dollar contributed to the Utah Food Bank can be leveraged in $7 in good and services.

For instance, Feeding America, the national food bank organization enables food banks to pick up produce from growers for only the cost of transporting the items.

The Utah Food Bank also has a "grocery rescue program" in which grocers provide perishable items on their "use by" dates. The food is made immediately available to needy families.

Large-scale events do not deter from regular giving to food bank, she said. Contributions from food drives provide about 8 percent of its inventory. But the community's donations of nonperishable food help ensure that clients receive food boxes that are well-balanced nutritionally.