San Diego County CA— Local Walmart associates joined Operation Homefront to package holiday meal kits to be distributed among San Diego’s military community Saturday, December 12. Starting at 9 a.m., dozens of associates from the local Oceanside store located on College Avenue gathered to assemble 500 holiday meal kits.
“Giving back to the community is something that is so important to us here in Oceanside,” said Matt Firkus, store manager at the College Avenue Walmart Store. “This holiday season, we want to make sure we are serving those who have served us, and we hope our donation will help to bring support to our brave men and women and their families.”
This was the fifth year Walmart has partnered with Operation Homefront and Holiday Meals for the Military. The kits included items such as green beans, soup, potatoes, and more, and will provide San Diego military families with an opportunity to enjoy a holiday meal they may not have otherwise been able to share. The event is critical to the area, as there are many military families who face hunger challenges in San Diego.
“The families of our service members are dealing with numerous challenges, many of which are financial in nature, that strain even the most frugal household budget,” said Brig Gen (ret) John I. Pray, Jr., president & CEO of Operation Homefront. “Reducing this strain is at the core of our mission to build strong, stable and secure military families. Providing a holiday meal for these amazing people is just one way in which Operation Homefront and our incredible individual and corporate sponsors, like Walmart, thank them for their service to our nation and help them do more than just get by, but actually thrive in the communities they have worked so hard to protect.”
The Holiday Meals for Military program began Thanksgiving 2009 as the result of a chance encounter in a supermarket in Utica, N.Y., near Fort Drum. A soldier, his wife, and infant had a handful of grocery items they could not afford, so a Beam Inc. employee picked up the $12 cost for the groceries. Since that time, the program has grown from initially providing 500 meal kits to military families in 2009 to providing 8,500 this holiday season.
About Walmart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT) helps people around the world save money and live better – anytime and anywhere – in retail stores, online, and through their mobile devices. Each week, nearly 260 million customers and members visit our 11,554 stores under 72 banners in 28 countries and e-commerce websites in 11 countries. With fiscal year 2015 revenue of $485.7 billion, Walmart employs approximately 2.2 million associates worldwide. Walmart continues to be a leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting http://corporate.walmart.com on Facebook at http://facebook.com/walmart and on Twitter at http://twitter.com/walmart.