Wegmans Customers to Help ‘Fill the Bus’ With Food

From Sunday, June 21 through Saturday, July 4, a two-week “Fill the Bus” food drive will take place at Wegmans Food Markets stores in Maryland and Virginia to aid local food banks. Customers can help "Fill the Bus" by donating items that provide healthy meals for children left without access to free or reduced-price meals when the school year ends.

Customer service desks at the 14 participating locations will display lists of easy-to-prepare, nutritious nonperishable items like tuna fish, peanut butter and canned soup. Products to donate will also be positioned by the registers and can be bought at checkout and then put in a collection bin located by the front of the store.

"The summer months are an especially challenging time for food banks because there's an increased need for meals when children are home from school," noted Linda Lovejoy, community relations manager at Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans. "These donations will help meet that critical need and reduce hunger in local neighborhoods."

Each store will collect and transport donations to its partner food bank, ensuring that the food remains in the immediate community. Last year, the grocer gave 13.5 million pounds of food to area food banks, food pantries and soup kitchens across its six-state footprint.

Family-owned Wegmans operates 86 stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts.