AMARILLO — Everyone needs nutritious food to thrive, and in every community in America, people are working hard to provide for themselves and their families. Yet in 2022, 44 million people—1 in 7 individuals—faced food insecurity in the U.S.

Those are the highest numbers in a decade, underscoring the need for more charitable food assistance in the Texas Panhandle and beyond.

Now, for the 11th straight year, all U.S. Walmart stores and Sam's Clubs are launching the ‘Fight Hunger. Spark Change.’ campaign, with the goal of providing people facing hunger with access to the food and resources they say they need to thrive. Since its inception in 2014, the campaign has generated over $186 million and helped secure nearly 1.9 billion meals* for the Feeding America® network of local food banks.

“The ‘Fight Hunger. Spark Change.’ campaign comes at a crucial time, when 1 in 8 of our neighbors are struggling across the Panhandle,” said Zack Wilson, executive director for High Plains Food Bank. “This, coupled with the many natural disasters we have experienced over the past eight months, has led to a tremendous need.”

The campaign will run in stores and online from April 1-April 29, with three ways for shoppers to participate:

- By donating at check-out registers in stores or clubs or rounding up purchases made at Walmart.com and within the Walmart app.

- By purchasing participating products in-store or online at Walmart.com or SamsClub.com. For every purchase of a participating product, the supplier will donate the monetary equivalent of at least one meal ($0.10) on behalf of a Feeding America partner food bank at Walmart and five meals ($0.50) at Sam’s Club, up to applicable limits. See specially marked packages for full details.

- By donating at Feeding America’s ‘Fight Hunger. Spark Change.’ campaign donation site at either www.FeedingAmerica.org/Walmart or www.FeedingAmerica.org/SamsClub.

“Serving communities and expanding access to affordable, healthy food lies at the heart of Walmart and Sam's Club's purpose to help people live better," said Kathleen McLaughlin, executive vice president and chief sustainability officer at Walmart and president of the Walmart Foundation. "Our annual Fight Hunger. Spark Change. campaign is a way to invite our customers, members, and suppliers to fight hunger alongside us. The funds raised through this campaign go toward local Feeding America food banks, meaning we can all make a difference in our own neighborhoods."

The 20 participating suppliers for Walmart include: Bush Brothers & Company; CELSIUS® Essential Energy Drink; The Coca-Cola Company; Conagra Brands; Dole Packaged Foods; Ferrara; Ferrero; General Mills; Hain Celestial; Hershey Salty Snacks; Hidden Valley Ranch; Kellanova; W.K. Kellogg Company; Keurig Dr Pepper; Kodiak; Kraft Heinz; Monster Energy; Pepsi-Cola Advertising & Marketing, Inc.; Red Bull North America; Unilever

The eight participating suppliers for Sam's Club include: General Mills; W.K. Kellogg; Kraft Heinz; Nestlé; Nissin; Nongshim; Palmetto Gourmet Foods, A Borealis Foods Company; Unilever