Times are tough. Whether it’s a friend, a relative or even an immediate family member, we are all seeing the impact of what’s a very difficult time for the American people. The USDA reports that one in six Americans is food insecure—or in simpler terms, at-risk of being hungry. This isn’t the type of hunger that’s brought on by being too busy or too picky to eat something. This is hunger where you worry where your next meal will come from. That is scary.

And while there is still more we can do, we are proud that the annual giving numbers we announced yesterday include the fact that as a company we doubled our donations to U.S. food banks, giving 127 million pounds of nutritious food—nearly 100 million meals—in our last year fiscal year (FYE10). We also increased our giving by 23 percent overall in the U.S. with $467 million in cash and in-kind gifts given in FYE10.

There’s a tremendous feeling of happiness today as we report this increase in giving. It’s not easy, particularly during the current economy, but we’re fortunate that our business is growing and as a result our giving is increasing as well.

From the press release we sent out yesterday, here’s a snapshot of our giving impact:

• More than 93,000 children were fed through a donation to the Boys and Girls Club of America’s summer feeding program,
• Forty-thousand teachers were awarded $100 gift cards as part of Walmart’s Teacher Rewards program, which helps offset expenses for classroom supplies,
• Sixty-nine food banks across America received refrigerated trucks from the Walmart Foundation to help increase their capacity, and
• More than 90,000 bottles of water, 24,000 blankets and more than 20,000 units of medical supplies like gauze and surgical masks were donated in response to the Haiti earthquake, to name a few.

We want to thank our customers, our associates and all of those working on the front lines of nonprofit programs across the country. We hope that our giving in the upcoming year will continue to increase.   

Thank you so much for following our blog posts during our Walmart Gives Back holiday giving campaign. Walmart and the Walmart Foundation are moving on from holiday giving and continuing to look for opportunities to help people live better. I'm happy to announce that this site will continue to operate and we'll periodically be having grant recipients and others post information about what's happening at Walmart and the Walmart Foundation. Please continue to check back for updated information and exciting announcements! And thank you again for following us on this site as we focused on our holiday giving.
 

It is hard to believe that we are halfway through January, and the year is 2010!  I would like to thank those of you who have followed this site and the Walmart Gives Back holiday giving campaign, as Walmart and the Walmart Foundation reached out to our communities and military families this holiday season. We have received many heartfelt notes, sharing with us the impact that our holiday giving had on our communities, as well as our military families and their children.  One of the most touching thank you notes we received was from a soldier that was about to deploy. He shared with us that the gift we gave was more than simply a gift card, it was the memory that he would carry with him of his children opening their gifts on Christmas morning.  As we partnered with Operation Homefront, Wreaths Across America and more than 1000 associate volunteers, we were able to help make the holidays a little brighter. Taking the spirit of giving into the New Year, we hope you will continue to look for opportunities to give back to your communities throughout the year.  I am attaching a link to footage on the Wreaths Across America program that I think you will enjoy.
 
Thank you again for following our work, my best to all of you this New Year.
 

For weeks now, I’ve been sharing how generous citizens, Walmart and Operation Homefront have worked together to make the holidays brighter for military families. I know that everyone who participated – both as givers and receivers – were deeply touched by the spirit of the season and our experience through this amazing partnership.

We have one more story to share from a special guest blogger, Rich Sommer.  Some of you may know Rich as an actor on the critically acclaimed AMC show, “Mad Men.” But I now know him as a thoughtful, loving brother who reached out to Operation Homefront to find out how he could give back. Here are his thoughts on the good work we do for our military families:

I first heard about Operation Homefront when my brother was stationed in Kuwait. He had signed up for the National Guard about a year-and-a-half before he decided to volunteer for deployment. Near the halfway mark of his second tour, back-to-back, I started going crazy.

Let me back up for a second. I’m an actor. I live in Los Angeles. Ryan is my younger and only brother. We fought a lot growing up. I left for college, and we realized we actually liked each other. Then he decided to go to Iraq. That’s pretty much the whole back story.

Anyway, back to where I started going crazy.

Anyone with loved ones stationed overseas understands how helpless it can feel to be here, waiting. You have no control over when you can speak to them, and when you do, the things you can talk about are limited. You’re constantly thinking about their safety, and it’s exhausting.

After more than a year of this, I started to get a little antsy. So I started researching ways that I could get involved with what Ryan was doing, without actually putting on a pair of boots and hopping on a plane. (I should mention here that I am far, far less courageous than Ryan. We are similar in a lot of ways, but this is not one of them.) That’s when I found Operation Homefront.

Operation Homefront is an incredible organization. I tried to summarize everything they do into a paragraph, but it was impossible. So here are three highlights, just to give you an idea:

1. Operation Homefront Villages. These are short-term housing units that help Wounded Warriors transition back into civilian life. There’s assistance with living expenses, career training, and computers specifically tailored to those warriors’ needs.

2. Much of the focus is on the waiting families. Career training, computer help and vehicle assistance for the spouses and children back at home.

3. My favorite, favorite part: 92 cents of every single dollar raised – did you hear that? 92% of ALL MONEY RAISED – goes right into these programs, directly supporting the warriors and their families.

I made a few phone calls, and was given the excellent opportunity to commit all that crazy energy I was feeling to a group that could directly impact my brother and the brave men and women serving alongside him.

I want to thank Operation Homefront for every single thing they do, and to give them special thanks for allowing me to be a part of it.

About Rich Sommer:  Rich Sommer is an actor in Los Angeles. He begins filming his fourth season of the AMC show, “ Mad Men”, in May of this year. He has also appeared on Law & Order, The Office, and in the film The Devil Wears Prada.

For our wounded warriors, Operation Homefront runs two Operation Homefront Villages, the first free, transitional housing where injured service members can live with their families for free as they recuperate and separate from their service branch.  We have one OH Village in San Antonio, convenient to Brook Army Medical Center, and one in Silver Spring here in the DC area for wounded warriors in treatment at Walter Reed or National Naval Medical Center-Bethesda.  This special group of people also benefited from Walmart’s generosity, with a special gift box delivered to Wounded Warrior Wives.

Let me tell you about one of the families in the village.  The arrival of the Tejada family’s newest member was more than just the blessing of a new life. James’ birth marked a new start for a family who’d spent two years struggling with the effects of Frank Tejada’s devastating combat injuries.

Frank suffered traumatic brain injury and major damage to his back, neck and shoulder in a rocket attack in Iraq. Jasmine Tejada says her husband wasn’t able to pick up their oldest son, Nicholas, then 3. Frank suffered bouts of debilitating pain. The TBI decimated his memory. 

Frank was eventually moved to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.

The family struggled to live together in local hotel rooms. There was no playground or room to run for Nicholas.

Months later, the Tejadas moved into an apartment at Operation Homefront Village. They receive mental health support, financial and career counseling, and other free, expert guidance to help them navigate the VA and DoD medical systems. The families understand and lean on each other through the challenges of adapting to their new lives.

For the Tejadas, that meant much-needed space. Their Village living room is filled with Nicholas’ toy trains. There is room for a crib, a baby swing and a rocking chair. Jasmine tells us that if it weren’t for the apartment, they likely would’ve had to separate; the boys would’ve been sent to grandparents so Jasmine could stay by her husband’s side and learn how to help him continue his recovery.

Instead, the Tejadas have a new home, a new baby and the beginning of a new life together as Frank begins to heal and the family prepares for their next journey, together. 

They’re just one of dozens of families who are benefitting from our supporters’ generosity and our volunteers’ talents. Thanks so much to Walmart and everyone else who’s helped Operation Homefront provide a home for the Tejadas and other families like them.