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Food Lion Feeds Joins forces with 35 colleges to provide 793,000 meals

Food Lion Feeds’ annual Sack to Give Back program tackled food insecurity during the 2024 collegiate football season, teaming up with 35 colleges, including Georgia Southern, to provide the equivalent of 793,000 meals to campus food pantries and local food banks. By donating 1,000 meals for every quarterback sack, this initiative continues to make a meaningful impact across Food Lion’s 10-state footprint.
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The Food Lion Feeds Sack-to-Give check presentation at Bowie State University

Throughout the 2024 collegiate football season, Food Lion Feeds’ annual Sack to Give Back program huddled with 35 collegiate institutions to help provide the equivalent of 793,000 meals*. For every quarterback sack made by a participating college or university, Food Lion Feeds donated the equivalent of 1,000 meals (up to 30,000 meals per school) to help nourish college students and address food insecurity. The effort benefits campus food pantries or affiliated Feeding America® partner food banks, where each school is located throughout Food Lion’s 10-state operating area. Food Lion Feeds was founded in 2014 by Food Lion to address food insecurity in the towns and cities it serves.

Since 2019, the Sack to Give Back program has resulted in the equivalent of more than 3.8 million meals* donated to local campus food pantries and food banks across Food Lion’s 10-state footprint. In 2024, the program included collegiate teams across Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

“At Food Lion, we believe no one should have to choose between dinner and rent or gas and groceries,” said Kevin Durkee, Manager, Food Lion Feeds, Food Lion. “We are committed to our collegiate partnerships and honored to partner with them to support their student food pantries, increasing access to nutritious food and setting students up for success.”

The Sack to Give Back campaign is one of many efforts that Food Lion Feeds leads in partnership with colleges. In addition to this collegiate effort, Food Lion Feeds also teams up with universities for its Score to Give More campaign which is currently underway, providing the equivalent of 100 meals (up to 30,000 meals per school) for every free throw made by participating institutions.

The Sack to Give Back participating schools and season totals include:

School School Location Sacks / Meals Provided
Appalachian State University Boone, NC 23 sacks / 23,000 meals provided
Bluefield State University Bluefield, WV 13 sacks / 13,000 meals provided
Bowie State University Bowie, MD 17 sacks / 17,000 meals provided
Catawba College Salisbury, NC 17 sacks / 17,000 meals provided
Clemson University Clemson, SC 30 sacks / 30,000 meals provided + 10,000 meals**
Coastal Carolina University Conway, SC 28 sacks / 28,000 meals provided
East Carolina University Greenville, NC 20 sacks / 20,000 meals provided
Elizabeth City State University Elizabeth City, NC 22 sacks / 22,000 meals provided
Elon University Elon, NC 23 sacks / 23,000 meals provided
Fayetteville State University Fayetteville, NC 19 sacks / 19,000 meals provided
Georgia Southern University Statesboro, GA 17 sacks / 17,000 meals provided
Hampton University Hampton, VA 30 sacks / 30,000 meals provided
James Madison University Harrisonburg, VA 30 sacks / 30,000 meals provided
Johnson C. Smith University Charlotte, NC 12 sacks / 12,000 meals provided
Liberty University Lynchburg, VA 19 sacks / 19,000 meals provided
Lincoln University Oxford, PA 12 sacks / 12,000 meals provided
Livingstone College Salisbury, NC 25 sacks / 25,000 meals provided
North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University Greensboro, NC 19 sacks / 19,000 meals provided
North Carolina State University Raleigh, NC 23 sacks / 23,000 meals provided
Old Dominion University Norfolk, VA 26 sacks / 26,000 meals provided
Shaw University Raleigh, NC 9 sacks / 9,000 meals provided
South Carolina State University Orangeburg, SC 30 sacks / 30,000 meals provided
Tennessee Tech University Cookeville, TN 30 sacks / 30,000 meals provided
Towson University Towson, MD 30 sacks / 30,000 meals provided
University of Delaware Newark, DE 28 sacks / 28,000 meals provided
University of Maryland College Park, MD 14 sacks / 14,000 meals provided
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 30 sacks / 30,000 meals provided
University of North Carolina at Pembroke Pembroke, NC 30 sacks / 30,000 meals provided
University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA 19 sacks / 19,000 meals provided
Virginia State University Petersburg, VA 28 sacks / 28,000 meals provided
Virginia Tech University Blacksburg, VA 30 sacks / 30,000 meals provided
Virginia Union University Richmond, VA 17 sacks / 17,000 meals provided + 4,000 meals**
Wake Forest University Winston-Salem, NC 20 sacks / 20,000 meals provided
The College of William and Mary Williamsburg, VA 21 sacks / 21,000 meals provided
Winston-Salem State University Winston-Salem, NC 18 sacks / 18,000 meals provided
     

Through Food Lion Feeds, Food Lion has helped to provide more than 1.2 billion meals*** to individuals and families and has committed to donate 1.5 billion meals by 2025. Food Lion Feeds was founded in 2014 by Food Lion to address food insecurity in the towns and cities it serves. For more information on Food Lion Feeds’ commitment to ending hunger, visit foodlion.com/feeds.

*$1 helps provide the equivalent of 10 meals secured by college food pantries or local partner food banks. 

**Food Lion Feeds provides up to 2,000 meals for every quarterback sack made in a playoff or championship game.