According to Feeding America, more than 44 million people – including 13 million children – are food insecure. Food insecurity occurs when people can't access the food they need to live their fullest lives. Approximately 49 million people used food assistance from Feeding America and other food organizations to address this issue in 2022.1
Rooted in our mission of bringing health through food to as many people as possible, promoting access to nutritious food is a key component of our Danone Impact Journey – a blueprint for defining our sustainability priorities and plan for impact. We believe that we can help address food insecurity by working to provide access to nutrient-dense and health-promoting products to underserved communities, while also furthering nutrition education. We’ve made specific commitments to these key nutrition pillars through our 2022 White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health, to invest in fighting hunger all year long.
In honor of Hunger Action Month, we’re sharing how our commitments and partnerships are helping to address food insecurity in the communities that need it most.
Danone North America has a long-standing partnership with Feeding America in which we donate financial resources and products to local Feeding America organizations where we live and work. In particular, we frequently partner with Feeding Westchester (Elmsford, NY) and Community Food Share (Louisville, CO) — two Feeding America organizations that are local to our company headquarters. Danone has partnered with Community Food Share for 27 years, helping feed 105,800 families throughout the community. Similarly, we’ve partnered with Feeding Westchester since 2007 and have hosted 49 volunteer events for Danone employees since 2009. Together through our collective work with Feeding Westchester and Community Food Share, we have donated more than 27.4M pounds of product to these communities, which equates to more than 28 million meals for our neighbors at risk of hunger. We are proud to also invest in programmatic support and unrestricted funding for these organizations to bring resources about healthy eating to all ages, from children to seniors, as well as education regarding access to critical government programs such as WIC or SNAP.
The impact has been extremely valued in reaching our community members in need, as showcased by our partners.
“Feeding Westchester’s partnership with Danone is a powerful example of taking action against hunger. Their longstanding support has provided 1.8 million meals to our neighbors and helped expand our nutrition programs, ensuring more people have access to healthy food and vital resources for a better future,” said Rebecca Snyder, Director of Corporate Partnerships.
"At Community Food Share, our fight against hunger in Boulder and Broomfield counties is fueled by the generosity and commitment of our partners, and none have been more reliable or generous than Danone. Their extraordinary support has made them our most steadfast ally in the mission to nourish our community. Danone’s dedication sets the gold standard for corporate partnership, ensuring we can continue providing food and hope to those who need it most," said Kim Da Silva, CEO of Community Food Share
In addition to our efforts with Feeding America, our Too Good & Co. brand has partnerships with City Harvest (Brooklyn, NY) — one of Feeding America’s largest chapters — and We Don’t Waste (Denver) to help fight hunger by keeping good, nutritious food from going to waste and providing it to those in need. Our financial support to both organizations totaled $5.6 million from 2021-2023, with another $1.8M expected this year. Every Too Good product purchased helps support these organizations
Since Too Good’s partnership with City Harvest began in April 2020, we have donated more than $4.9 million in financial support through the One Cup, Less Hunger program. Too Good has donated product to City Harvest as well, including 2,000 cups of yogurt in 2022 and a pallet of yogurt and smoothies in May 2023. In 2023 alone, Too Good’s support directly helped City Harvest rescue nearly 3.1 million pounds of food to donate to food pantries, soup kitchens, and partner organizations that provide critical access to healthy foods across New York City. This equates to approximately 2.6 million meals. This year, Too Good has also supported City Harvest as a sponsor of Hunger Action Month, BID 2024, Repack to Give Back, Gala, Share Lunch Fight Hunger and Summer in the City. Danone employees also regularly participate in year-round volunteer opportunities.
We understand that taking action against hunger also includes educating our community members around choosing nutritious foods. That’s why we’ve ensured our partnership funding has supported nutrition education efforts in addition to product contributions.
Through City Harvest, Danone’s funding has contributed to enabling its Nutrition Education program, which teaches skills for finding, preparing, and enjoying healthy, tasty, and affordable meals – all for free to attendees. These nutrition education classes are tailored to children, teenagers, parents, and seniors, and focus on teaching easy, healthy recipes, tips for buying groceries on a budget, how to read nutrition labels, and how to store food to make it last longer. From July 2022-June 2023, our investment commitment helped City Harvest’s Nutrition Education activities to reach a total of 114,139 community members.
As a partner since 2020, Too Good is also the largest supporter in the history of We Don’t Waste’s work to improve food access in Denver. In 2022, our funding helped WDW to recover 22 million servings of food for distribution to approximately 1 million recipients in Colorado through 100+ nonprofit agencies. WDW also hosted 87 mobile food markets in food deserts, serving approximately 80,000 people.
With our support, WDW has seen a significant increase in impact – reaching six times more people with mobile food markets. Our funding similarly helps with We Don’t Waste’s education program, which includes food waste audits in cafeterias, hands-on activities, and educational presentations to students of all ages at schools in the Denver Metro area. These educational presentations cover topics including food insecurity, the environmental and social impacts of wasting food, nutrition, and what we can all do to help reduce our waste.
We know that fighting hunger requires the commitment of countless individuals and corporations throughout the country. We value our efforts toward helping end the challenge of food insecurity and continue to look for opportunities to support our neighbors in need. You can get involved in the fight against hunger in your community – as part of Hunger Action Month or anytime. Visit www.feedingamerica.org for ways to contribute time, skills or resources toward a future where no one goes hungry.
