US Foods Holding Corp., one of America’s largest foodservice distributors, has announced  that the company and its associates donated nearly $14.5 million in cash, product and volunteer time to support hunger relief, culinary education and disaster relief efforts throughout 2024. The total contribution included nearly 7 million pounds of food and supplies donations, the equivalent of approximately 6 million meals or more than 260 truckloads of product.

“With communities across the country facing unprecedented challenges, US Foods is uniquely positioned to harness the power of food to empower communities with nourishment and opportunity,” says Dave Flitman, chief executive officer, US Foods. “As an extension of our promise to help customers Make It, our Helping Communities Make It programming strives to make a meaningful difference where we live and work. I am proud of our new and innovative programs, as well as our continued investments in community giving, and grateful to all the US Foods associates who participated in our volunteer and fundraising activities throughout the year.”

US Foods kicked off 2024 announcing an increased investment of nearly $2 million to support the company’s expanded Helping Communities Make It programming. The additional dollars enabled new partnerships and innovative hunger-relief initiatives including:

• Enhanced programming with long-standing partner Feeding America to expand the organization’s innovative Direct to Neighbor locker project through a $750,000 cash donation. Since 2007, the company has donated more than $170 million in food and supplies to Feeding America network food banks.
• A new $250,000 partnership with Military Family Advisory Network to help fight food insecurity among military families.
• Its first-ever Chicago-area signature program to support the Greater Chicago Food Depository with $250,000 for veteran-specific hunger relief programming.

The company also supported hunger relief efforts through a variety of associate giving and volunteer initiatives, among those being a week-long “Spring into Service” program in which associates participated in various company-sponsored community service events, a company-wide food drive for Hunger Action Month and a month-long “Giving Gratitude” campaign dedicated to providing food to underserved communities during the holidays. Participation in these activities generated a total charitable value of nearly $100,000 toward additional hunger relief efforts.

US Foods once again teamed up with new customers to donate $100,000 to Giving Kitchen, a nonprofit that provides emergency assistance for food service workers through financial support and a network of community resources, and helped Giving Kitchen extend its reach to 49 states.

As part of the company’s ongoing commitment to culinary education and building the next generation of culinary talent for its customers, US Foods awarded $360,000 in scholarships to students pursuing degrees in culinary arts, baking and pastry, chef training and business management through its US Foods Scholars program, which was expanded nationwide for the first time. Since its launch, the program has awarded more than $2 million in scholarships to more than 100 students to make a meaningful contribution to the restaurant and hospitality industry talent pipeline.

Finally, US Foods continued its commitment to disaster relief aid with the American Red Cross. The company enhanced its long-standing partnership, becoming a formal Annual Disaster Responder Program partner with a donation of $250,000 to support the Red Cross in their efforts to quickly mobilize resources before disaster strikes. This partnership was critically important as the Red Cross faced disasters of unprecedented magnitude in 2024, which prompted the company to make an additional donation of $50,000 to Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton recovery efforts. US Foods teams across impacted areas of Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas also took action to provide aid at the local level, sending thousands of cases of products to disaster relief organizations, supporting the National Guard, and providing emergency logistics support.