An Appetite for Awareness: “Food Donations at Local Foodbanks Are at an All Time Low”

The holidays are a time of gratitude and giving, and this year T-Mobile is making sure its customers and employees have every opportunity to get in the spirit. This Giving Season, the Un-carrier is teaming up with Feeding America, the largest nonprofit working with 200 food banks across the country and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs to end hunger in the United States. Due to the pandemic, unemployment and food insecurity soared, leading 53 million people to turn to food banks and community programs last year to help put food on the table at home. That’s why the company has announced it will be donating up to 2 million meals ($200,000 value) to Feeding America through the T-Mobile Tuesdays App on Giving Tuesday, Nov. 29

“Record inflation is causing demand to increase and remain high at food banks across the country,” says Lauren Biedron, vice president of Corporate Partnerships at Feeding America. “The Feeding America network is not immune to the impacts of inflation, with aspects of food bank operations including purchasing food, transporting donated food, energy for cold storage, and other costs including wages and even vehicle maintenance seeing increases. The latest Feeding America food bank pulse survey finds that 90% of all responding food banks reported seeing increased or steady demand for services amid record food price increases, with 60% being increased need. Now more than ever, we need the support of partners, like T-Mobile, to make nutritious food accessible to all neighbors in need.”

And the goodness of Giving Season does not end once Giving Tuesday is over! T-Mobile is hosting food drives across the country helping employees give back to their local food banks through mid-December. Plus, the company will donate in a big way gifting a total of $150,000 to food banks in Bellevue, Washington; Overland Park, Kansas; Frisco, Texas; and Reston, Virginia. 

In addition to the food drives, the T-Mobile Foundation will gift all employees seed funding on Giving Tuesday to donate to their nonprofit of choice through the end of the year. Since 2015, T-Mobile has given almost $22 million and volunteered more than 321,000 hours to support over 22,000 nonprofits across the U.S. during Giving Season!

“Food donations are at an all-time low right now and historically dip after the holidays in January and February,” says Ryan Scott, chief development officer for Food Lifeline, a nonprofit in Seattle and a member of the Feeding America network that works to serve the western Washington community and provides nutritious food to 1.37 million people. “We typically have four to five million pounds of food here in the warehouse at this time, but because of the pinch we only have about 1 million pounds. Letting people know they can donate 10 meals to Feeding America on behalf of T-Mobile with a simple tap on the app on Giving Tuesday is so important but introducing them to their local foodbanks so they know they can donate all year long is just as vital.”    

Head to the T-Mobile Tuesday app on Nov. 29, tap donate 10 meals to Feeding America on behalf of T-Mobile, and learn more about how you can support your local food bank. 

*$1 helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America on behalf of local member food banks.