Arizona Tribune - Feed the Children Strengthens Hunger Relief Efforts Through Starbucks FoodShare Capacity Building Grant

OKLAHOMA CITY, OK / ACCESS Newswire / February 20, 2026 / Feed the Children has received a Starbucks FoodShare Capacity Building Grant, improving the organization's ability to safely receive, transport, and distribute nourishing food to children and families facing hunger. This year marks the 10th anniversary of Starbucks FoodShare, a milestone that reflects a decade of community partnership and impact.

The grant is part of Starbucks FoodShare program, a partner (employee) led food rescue initiative that donates unsold, ready-to-eat food from Starbucks company operated coffeehouses to hunger relief organizations across the United States. Food donations may include items such as breakfast sandwiches, Protein Boxes, and pastries, helping provide nourishing meals while diverting surplus food from landfills.

Through this grant, Starbucks has significantly boosted Feed the Children's transportation and logistics capacity, providing critical funding to help move food faster and farther to communities that need it most. Grant funding helped cover transportation costs and enabled the purchase of two forklifts and one electric pallet jack, strengthening the organization's logistical framework and efficiency across its national distribution network.

Feed the Children believes every child deserves a chance to grow and thrive. ​With this grant, the organization is able toprovide families with the food and essentials they need to help stay healthy so that they can support their children's development and dreams.​

"This grant has been transformative for our operations," said Emily Callahan president and CEO of Feed the Children. "By investing in essential equipment like forklifts, pallet jacks, trailers, and transportation support, Starbucks has helped us build a stronger logistics backbone-one that allows us to move more food, more efficiently, to families across the country."

The enhanced infrastructure has also allowed Feed the Children to increase its capacity to accept and distribute more Starbucks FoodShare donations, expanding the reach of ready-to-eat meals to the communities it serves.

"With these improvements, we're able to accept more Starbucks products and deliver them safely and quickly to the children and families who need us the most," Callahan added. "It's a powerful example of how the right capacity investments can dramatically increase impact."

Since 2016, Starbucks and its hunger relief partners have helped provide more than 121 million nourishing, ready-to-eat meals through FoodShare. Starbucks has reinvested more than $100 million in hunger relief efforts and provided $6.1 million in capacity funding in 2025 to local U.S. food banks to support logistics, infrastructure, and sustainable food waste solutions.
*According to the USDA, 1.2 pounds is equivalent to one meal.

Feed the Children's partnership with Starbucks FoodShare supports the organization's mission to end childhood hunger by providing food and essential resources to children and families across the country. The Capacity Building Grant enhances long-term impact by strengthening local food systems and expanding access to nutritious food.

For more information about Feed the Children's global movement to end childhood hunger visit www.feedthechildren.org and learn how you can help create a world where no child goes to bed hungry. To learn more about Starbucks' commitment to hunger relief, visit https://about.starbucks.com/hunger-relief/.

About Feed the Children

Feed the Children is a global movement committed to ending childhood hunger. We believe that no child should go to bed hungry, and so we provide children and families in the U.S. and around the world with the food and essentials kids need to grow and thrive.

Through our programs and partnerships, we feed children today while helping their families and communities build resilient futures. In addition to food, we distribute household and personal care items across the United States to help parents and caregivers maintain stable, food-secure households. Internationally, we expand access to nutritious meals, safe water, improved hygiene, and training in sustainable living. Responsible stewards of our resources, we are driven to pursue innovative, holistic, and child-focused solutions to the complex challenges of hunger, food insecurity, and poverty. For children everywhere, we believe that having enough to eat is a fundamental right. Learn how you can help create a world without childhood hunger at feedthechildren.org

Feed the Children | Create a world where no child goes to bed hungry

About Starbucks FoodShare

Starbucks FoodShare food donation program in the U.S. is a collaboration between Starbucks, Feeding America®, and other hunger relief organizations to provide nourishing, ready-to-eat meals to people in need and divert surplus food from landfills. At the end of each day, Starbucks partners (employees) collect leftover food to donate. Through a third logistics party logistics backhaul model, refrigerated trucks pick up donations from coffeehouses and transport them to a nearby distribution center; donations are then sorted and delivered to regional food banks and local food pantries. In the U.S., 66 billion pounds of food go to waste each year, while 44 million people face hunger. Since 2016, Starbucks has provided over $43M to U.S. and Canadian food banks, more than 121 million meals, invested $100M in hunger relief, and in 2025 provided $6.1M in in capacity funding to local food banks.

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Richard Presser
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[email protected]

SOURCE: Feed the Children

View the original press release on ACCESS Newswire

Ch.Campbell--AT