Fight Hunger Spark Change
The annual Fight Hunger Spark Change campaign is in its 12th year and runs in Walmart stores, Sam’s Club locations, and online March 1 – March 31, 2025. It’s easy to join in! There are three ways for customers and members to participate and support Roadrunner Food Bank through this campaign:
- For every participating product purchased in-store or online at Walmart.com or SamsClub.com, 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. Funds raised in New Mexico help Roadrunner Food Bank and its hunger-relief network.
- Donate at check-out in stores or clubs in any amount you choose. Customers can also round up their purchases on Walmart.com and the Walmart app.
- Donate at Feeding America’s Fight Hunger. Spark Change. campaign site or rrfb.org to help take action right here in New Mexico!
Ways Walmart and Sam’s Club Help
Food Rescue Provides Ingredients for Hundreds of Daily Shelter Meals in Albuquerque
On any given day Monday through Friday, somewhere between 300 and 400 people sit down for a warm meal at the HopeWorks Shelter in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
“There will always be a great need to feed hungry people,” says Shelter Director Julie Yung. “Our meals are available to anyone, not just our clients, who are hungry. Senior citizens, children, adults are all welcome. Food insecurity is real and it shouldn’t happen in our country.”
Yung says it can be difficult to explain the sheer number of ingredients necessary to cook for hundreds day in and out. On top of the daily meal service, the shelter assembles and distributes boxed meals, too.
“Roadrunner brings in pallets of food once or twice a week and it’s a huge help,” says Yung. “We simply cannot feed 300-400 people daily with our budget and heavily relies on the community, partner agencies and funding to help us with our mission.”
Roadrunner’s partnership with HopeWorks sources thousands of pounds of fresh food weekly through Walmart’s grocery rescue program — intercepting ingredients that can be used in those meals before they are no longer fit for use.
“There is a misconception that all donated foods are either expired or spoiled,” says Yung. “Actually, most of it are in great condition. Just like buying fresh fruits and vegetables in a grocery store there are some bad ones mixed in.”
The pass-through arrangement means the shelter is connected with grocery rescue resources it otherwise could not access — and Roadrunner is able to outsource distribution to an on-the-ground partner in the same day. It’s part of the food bank’s direct delivery model – where the fleet picks up and delivers unsaleable food from a grocery store partner and brings it right to a partner to use right away.
Learn more about food loss and waste and how food banks utilize food from various sources including grocery rescue.
HopeWorks Shelter Director Julie Yung watches as kitchen staff prepare for a Friday meal service in Albuquerque. The shelter serves anywhere from 300 to 400 people on a daily basis.
HopeWorks kitchen staff prepare to feed hundreds during a meal service on a Friday at the organization's Albquerque shelter. Meals here frequently include ingredients sourced by Roadrunner from grocery rescue programs run by Walmart.
Ways Walmart and Sam’s Club Help
Direct Delivery Model Increases Food Available in Sandoval County
Every Monday and Friday cars line up outside Storehouse West’s location in Rio Rancho. It represents families seeking help with food.
As a long-term partner of Roadrunner, Storehouse West provides food and a kid’s clothing bank to Sandoval County residents. They also deliver food to two senior centers where seniors pick up food and provide food to two pueblos also located in the county. Every week or so they sign up 10-15 new families for food assistance and they don’t expect the need to stop growing.
At a recent visit, Debra Bock, a staff member at Storehouse West shared, “We are serving 700 families each month right now. It is twice as many as we had 18 months ago and it’s higher than pandemic levels.”
One way more food is quickly reaching partner agencies like Storehouse West is through a model known as Direct Delivery. Roadrunner’s fleet picks up grocery rescue on an established schedule and immediately delivers the donated product to a partner. It removes the need to handle the food as often with the intent to get it out nearly immediately.
Debra shared, “The direct delivery model has made a huge difference in the amount of fresh produce and frozen meat we can provide to people we serve in Sandoval County. It’s extra food we need. Without it, the food we do have would be just limited to government commodities. The rescued food plays into the dignity we can provide to the people we serve. They can choose and it feels much less of a handout.”
She also shared, “The idea that it is coming directly to us – the food isn’t as old. In the past, when it first went through the food bank’s warehouse it was well passed the use by date. The direct delivery program lets us use it more quickly and food is a lot fresher.”
Direct delivery has also improved the variety. Storehouse West estimates they were previously handing out mostly canned good items. The model has increased their access to produce, fresh meat, deli meat and deli products, bread, pastries, and more.
Debra shared, “Nearly 80 percent of what we provide today is fresh foods. It has increased the variety of foods we can give out. The deli items are really helpful to seniors who don’t cook as much anymore. And, one thing we didn’t expect was an improved opinion by people we serve. It has changed their attitude towards us. They are so pleased they are getting a better variety and a better balance of healthy food options.”
Learn more about Storehouse West.
Storehouse Staff Member Lauren and Volunteer Melodee with Walmart Store Donations
Storehouse West Walmart Donation Overlooking Distribution
Edgar of Roadrunner Food Bank Poses with Staff and Volunteers of Storehouse West
Food Bank Driver Edgar Unloading Two Walmart Store Donations
Storehouse West Drive Through Distribution. Food Bank Truck Arrives with Walmart Food Grocery Rescue
Recipient Receives Product from Walmart Grocery Rescue
Storehouse West Volunteers Loads Car with Food at Drive Through Distribution
Storehouse West Staff Member Lauren Proudly Displays Meat Donations – Many from Walmart
Ways Walmart and Sam’s Club Help
Volunteers at the Storehouse food pantry in Albuquerque, New Mexico carefully sort through produce sourced through Roadrunner Food Bank's partnerships with grocery rescue programs from Walmart and Sam's Club. Much of the produce distributed to working families through pantries like the Storehouse is slightly damaged or otherwise imperfect produce that is edible but cannot be sold.
Grocery rescue supports distributions at the Storehouse in Albuquerque, New Mexico
Volunteers closely examine produce moving through the Storehouse facility during a Friday distribution in February 2025. Much of the produce distributed during Wednesday, Friday and Saturday events at the Albuquerque, New Mexico pantry is sourced by Roadrunner through partnerships with grocery rescue providers like Walmart and Sam's Club.
The warehouse at the Storehouse in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
From Working Families to Unhoused Neighbors in Albuquerque, Grocery Rescue Feeds Hundreds Weekly at the Storehouse
Three times a week, a long line snakes from the front door of the Storehouse food pantry in downtown Albuquerque, down the street and into an alleyway.
“Our demand from local families in need has been increasing steadily for several years now,” says Kevin Cochran, Program Manager for the Storehouse.
The pantry has been serving New Mexicans experiencing food insecurity for 50 years, and Cochran says their free food distributions are busier than they have been at any time in that half-century of service.
At an average distribution, Storehouse Marketing Manager Jill Beets says hundreds of people stand in that line for food. The pantry primarily serves working families who have trouble making ends meet – but they serve anyone in New Mexico experiencing food insecurity, including unhoused people in the Albuquerque area.
“We’ve seen record numbers of people and so many more people are counting on us,” says Beets. “In 2023 we were consistently seeing an average of 195 households each time we opened for a distribution, and by the second half of 2024, we were seeing 350 houseolds every time.”
The demand is massive – and Beets says it’s a regular strain on the pantry’s logistical capabilities. That is where Roadrunner Food Bank – the state’s largest food bank network – comes in to support the process.
“Roadrunner is extremely helpful to us logistically but within food rescue in particular, Roadrunner has reached out to us to make sure we had sources of food that we needed,” says Cochran.
As part of a long-time relationship, Roadrunner coordinates and manages grocery rescue pipelines to benefit smaller partners like the Storehouse. Edible but unsellable produce, meats, and bakery items are rescued from Walmart stores around the state and redistributed to New Mexicans in need through the Storehouse.
“We get quite a lot of food from the Walmart food rescue agreement and we are incredibly busy right now so that is always helpful to ensure we have food to provide,” says Cochran. “The variety is very important to our clients when it comes to balanced nutrition.”
Ways Walmart and Sam’s Club Help
Walmart volunteers in the food bank’s repack room
Walmart employees take a few minutes to capture a quick photo with our team
Walmart volunteers repacking rice
Walmart employees repacking beans
Walmart employees pose for a quick picture with our mascot Roadie
Walmart repacking rice into family sized servings
Roadie jumping in with Walmart employees on their volunteer fun
Giving Time
Employees of Walmart and Sam’s Club also spend time helping out by volunteering in our Albuquerque warehouse. In the last 11 months, they volunteered more than 185 prepping food for distribution. Volunteers are critical in our work. They help sort produce, repack bulk food items, create and fill food boxes, serve at food distributions we run out in the community – and so much more!
Thank you to the Walmart and Sam’s Club teams for making our communities better through your gift of time! We look forward to hosting you in March and April as you bring team members to come in and help out!
Learn more about volunteering.