Costco Joins Retail Rescue Program

Costco partnership means hundreds of thousands of meals for hungry Marylanders.

Earlier this month, Costco joined the Maryland Food Bank’s list of Retail Rescue partners, a group of dedicated companies that donate millions of pounds of high-quality food each year – food that goes to food-insecure children, seniors, and working families, instead of the trash.

The partnership comes at an opportune time, as our inventory tends to be down in the summer months when we may not be top of mind for donors. Having retailers fill in the gap is vital to ensuring that the more than 682,000 food-insecure Marylanders have consistent access to nutritious food.

Five Maryland-based Costco stores (Arundel Mills, Columbia, Frederick, Glen Burnie, and Owings Mills) are expected to provide enough food annually to supply hundreds of thousands of meals to Marylanders in need.

“Costco is well known for good deals in their warehouse stores, but this is certainly a great deal for hungry Marylanders across the state,” said Butch Langenfelder, food sourcing manager at the Maryland Food Bank.

Right now, Costco primarily supplies frozen meats, a much-needed source of protein that is crucial for a healthy lifestyle and is often difficult to obtain for food-insecure individuals.

“Costco has a long-standing tradition of supporting programs that focus on children, education, and health and human services,” said Tom Borg, general manager of Costco’s Columbia location. “Supporting the Maryland Food Bank’s efforts to care for people in the very communities our Costco employees work and live in is something that we are very, very proud of.”

Costco Gives Even More

In addition to the on-going product donation (which will likely become more varied in the future) the warehouse club also generously donated $30,000 in gift cards to spend in their stores. Langenfelder uses the funds to purchase produce and shelf-stable items to supplement donated goods.

MFB’s Retail Rescue Program began in 2007 when we partnered with Food Lion on our first large-scale recovery initiative. Today, several retailers across Maryland (including Walmart, Giant, Wegmans, Weis and others) provide substantial amounts of fresh and shelf-stable foods, items which ultimately assist hundreds of thousands of food-insecure individuals in Maryland.

If you are a food retailer and would like to become our next Retail Rescue partner, please contact Butch Langenfelder for more information.