Americold, the world's largest publicly-traded owner and operator of temperature-controlled warehouses, has partnered with Feed the Children, a leading nonprofit focused on alleviating childhood hunger, to support COVID-19 relief for families in crisis.

In the upcoming September issue of Refrigerated & Frozen Foods, we highlight the pandemic pivots made by Sysco and US Foods in 2020 due to COVID-19 and its effect on foodservice clients like restaurants, hotels, caterers, stadiums, and other volume venues. While putting that story together, we also had a chance to speak to another foodservice distribution giant, Golden State Foods (GSF) and its Chairman and CEO, Mark Wetterau.

Pierre’s Ice Cream has created a special line of ice cream pints in recognition of all heroes – everyone who has adapted, struggled, sacrificed and persevered during this challenging time – and to raise money for local food banks.

 Perdue Farms has delivered 40,000 pounds of protein to help the West Annapolis Pop Up Pantry in its mission to provide underserved families with nutritious meals amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The donation is part of Perdue’s “Delivering Hope To Our Neighbors” hunger-relief initiative that is helping provide meals for struggling individuals and families.

The Refrigerated Foods Association (RFA) reports a collective donation of $8,000 to Feeding America during 2020’s National Deli Salad Month (July).  Member companies committed to donating both monetarily and with in-kind donations as a collective effort to combat hunger in their own communities.  Hands-on volunteer work was also encouraged. Their July fundraiser resulted in a total of $8,000 for Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization.   Hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of food is also donated to local food banks each year by these businesses.

Giant Food, the Washington D.C. area's leading regional grocery chain, is teaming up with Avocados from Peru (AFP) to donate a trailer of over 40,000 pounds of Avocados from Peru, also known as summer avocados, to Feeding America network members Capital Area Food Bank in Northeast Washington, D.C., and the Maryland Food Bank in Baltimore, Md. Both deliveries will take place on National Avocado Day, Friday, July 31, 2020.

Perdue Farms and the Food Bank of the Albemarle in Elizabeth City, N.C. have unveiled a new refrigerated tractor-trailer to support the organization’s distribution of food within the 15 counties the food bank serves in northeast North Carolina. The tractor-trailer was funded through a $100,000 grant by Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation, the charitable giving arm of Perdue Farms, in conjunction with the company’s 100th anniversary.

On our latest From the Cold Corner Podcast, I sit down with Neil Russell, VP of corporate affairs at Sysco, for details about the company’s constantly evolving strategies during the pandemic. 

In recognition of National Hot Dog Day on July 22, members of the North American Meat Institute (NAMI or the Meat Institute) are working with Feeding America to donate more than 325,000 hot dogs to food banks across the nation for people in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Perdue Farms, with a $100,000 grant from the Franklin P. and Arthur W. Perdue Foundation, has partnered with the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank headquartered in Verona, Virginia, to establish two high school food pantries in the Shenandoah Valley. The “Good Food School Market” has continued to provide students and families in need with access to nutritious food since schools closed in March amid the COVID-19 pandemic.