Publix Charities gives $25 million to more than 350 food banks and hunger groups in eight states
The grocery chain's foundation announced its largest hunger gift yet on Sept. 22, $10 million more than last year. Part of it pays for trucks and other one-time costs at Feeding America food banks.
Lakeland. Publix Super Markets Charities, the foundation of the Lakeland, Fla., grocery chain, said on Sept. 22 that it is giving $25 million this year to more than 350 food banks and other nonprofit organizations in the eight states where Publix operates. Among them are 43 food banks in the Feeding America network.
The foundation called it its largest gift yet for people facing food insecurity. Last year it gave $15 million to more than 400 organizations, 40 of them Feeding America food banks, according to its release of Sept. 16, 2025. It says it has now given more than $103 million to fight hunger since 2015.
What the money pays for
The grants support programs such as weekend backpack programs, food pantries and meal delivery services. Part of the money lets Feeding America food banks pay for one-time costs, including vehicles and other capital improvements.
The release does not name the recipients or their amounts, and some have announced their own. The Food Bank of North Alabama, in Huntsville, received two grants totaling $350,000 for a vehicle to collect food from grocery stores, a bar-coding system for its distribution center and other equipment, The News Courier of Athens, Ala., reported on Sept. 24.
Publix pointed to earlier grants as examples. The Harry Chapin Food Bank of Southwest Florida bought a 26-foot box truck with $200,000 from the foundation; since it went on the road in 2025, the truck has delivered up to 200,000 pounds of food across the food bank's five counties, the company said.
“By working with our food bank partners, we can better identify where our support can make the greatest difference.”
How nonprofits apply
The foundation, which the chain's founder, George W. Jenkins, established in 1966, funds organizations that operate or serve clients in Florida, Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia or Kentucky.
Its request page says hunger relief requests must be submitted between March 1 and April 30 for a decision and announcement in September. Housing and shelter requests are taken from July 1 to Aug. 31 and decided at the end of the year; other program and sponsorship requests are accepted all year.
An organization registers once in the foundation's online system and updates the registration every year. The system looks up its EIN in the IRS database of registered nonprofits. A group that has an EIN but no 501(c)(3) determination letter yet answers no to the EIN question when it registers, the foundation's FAQ says.
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