Melaleuca Donates $15,000 to Provide Food Pantries with Commercial Freezers

To provide families in need with more food options, Melaleuca donated $15,000 toward the purchase of seven new commercial freezers.

Melaleuca’s donation was featured in articles published by East Idaho News and Local News 8.

The freezers were donated to a pair of charities in Idaho Falls: the Community Food Basket, a nonprofit organized by several churches to meet emergency food needs, and to the Salvation Army, a faith-based charity and food pantry.

Melaleuca’s contribution was part of an interfaith coordination to help less fortunate families have better access to more nutritional food. The industrial freezers will make it easier for the charities to accept more frozen food donations from the community, keep food fresh longer, and distribute it to families when they need it.

“Without community help, many families would go hungry,” Melaleuca CEO Frank VanderSloot said. “Local supermarkets, businesses and individuals are extremely generous in donating food. We made this contribution so these food pantries are no longer limited in how much frozen food they can accept. Now they’ll have the capacity to match the generosity of this community and feed more families.”

Serving nearly 4,000 families each month, the Community Food Basket distributed nearly 1.5 million pounds of food in 2018. Despite a strong economy, more families than ever before are walking through its doors in times of emergency to receive a few bags of groceries. The freezers they received will go a long way in expanding its efforts.

The Salvation Army has struggled with insufficient freezer space for its meat donations, making due with just a few worn-out kitchen freezers. The new industrial freezers will allow them to accept more frozen food donations, resulting in more nutritious, protein-based options for families who would otherwise go hungry.

Melaleuca was one of several local donors, including Medical Imaging Associates and a few anonymous individuals, who teamed up and gave $27,330 to purchase the new freezers. Rush’s Kitchen Supply, which provided the freezers at cost, offered to set them up free of charge.

For decades, Melaleuca has supported numerous non-profit organizations to feed hundreds of thousands of families in need and ease the suffering caused by hunger. In 2018, The Wellness Company wrapped up its 29^th year sponsoring the Scouting for Food drive. With Melaleuca’s help, the Boy Scouts of America has collected over 6 million pounds of food for struggling families.

Over the years, Melaleuca has also delivered truckloads of its snack bars, crackers and other food items to the American Red Cross in the wake of natural disasters. Melaleuca’s food donations have helped thousands of victims displaced by hurricanes, floods, and other catastrophes. In addition, Melaleuca continues to supported Feeding America, the Second Harvest Food Bank, and other organizations committed to ending world hunger.