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  • 2015-03-09 (xsd:date)
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  • Text 'Hunger' to 35350 to Donate to Local Food Banks? (en)
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  • In March 2015 a message began to circulate on social media sites claiming that texting the word HUNGER to the number 35350 would prompt the Sam's Club chain of membership-only retail warehouse stores to donate meals to local food banks. According to several versions of the claim, each donation would provide twelve meals to a nearby food pantry once a donor's location was confirmed. A few aspects of the text HUNGER to 35350 campaign gave potential donors pause, however. For one thing, Facebook and Twitter pages maintained by Sam's Club didn't prominently publish any material confirming the campaign around the time it became popular in March 2015. Users who posted to the retailer's Facebook wall to inquire about the legitimacy of the campaign were directed to a website prompting them to enter barcodes from General Mills products to generate donations under a program called Outnumber Hunger: On that page, information about a separate (and not clearly linked) aspect of the campaign was published: Although the blurb confirmed a Sam's Club campaign was slated to continue until 31 January 2016 (or until a $225,000 donation cap was reached), no mention of text-triggered donations was included. A Facebook link at the top of that page led to an Outnumber Hunger campaign page that hadn't been updated for several months, which a number of Facebook members used to inquire about the legitimacy of the 35350 donation message. Outnumber Hunger referenced another page, Feeding America, in their about section. On that page, a status update dated 4 March 2015 explained: According to the status update, texts would generate a donation to local or national food banks until 31 March 2015 (or until a cap of $225,000 was reached). If the fundraising maximum wasn't met by that date, General Mills customers would be given until January 2016 to trigger donations by submitting bar codes from purchased products. However, by 12 March 2015 Sam's Club had reached the stated cap for text-based donations, so texts sent to 35350 after that date no longer triggered food bank contributions. The Sam's Club Meals from Members Program is active this year between until 31 March 2017, activated by texting the word 'MEALS' (not 'HUNGER') to 35350. Each text (one per person) will prompt the donation of $1.08 to Feeding America by General Mills, an amount considered to be the equivalent of twelve meals at local food banks, until either the cutoff date or the maximum donation level of $150,000 has been reached: (en)
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