Fighting Hunger in America the Wal-Mart Way

Almost everybody has a big, bad Wal-Mart story that disses the Bentonville, Arkansas chain store for one reason or another. From the everyday low wages it pays to its associates to the arm-twisting pressure it puts on suppliers to wring out the absolute lowest price, Wal-Mart is notorious for its bare-knuckle business practices. As defendant in one of the biggest class-action discrimination cases brought on behalf of women in the workforce, Wal-Mart also is no stranger to damning media reports that question whether it hurts the little people its business is devoted to serving more than it helps.

To its credit, Wal-Mart has addressed many of these claims with remedial programs that focus on the underlying problem. While its journey to corporate citizenship has been dismissed by activists as self-serving, Wal-Mart has found that doing good leads to a better reputation. But it has not been easy or quick.

Thus, it is not insignificant that Wal-Mart has announced perhaps the biggest private effort in history to fight one of America's most embarrassing ills: hunger. The $2 billion commitment to fight hunger demonstrates that Wal-Mart has its finger on the pulse of America's problems. As much as jobs, the economy or taxes may be on the agendas of politicians, it is a sad commentary that hunger is a more pressing problem for millions of Americans.

Kudos to Wal-Mart for recognizing and understanding this basic human need, and even more props for taking the steps with partnering organizations to do something about it.

(c) 2010. Adonis Hoffman

Wal-Mart's Everyday Responsibility

As a company known for "everyday low prices", Wal-Mart has not exactly been known as a champion of corporate responsibility, primarily due to its employment and benefits policies that seem to shortchange employees in terms of healthcare coverage.

Whether that reputation is earned or not is debatable; what is indisputable today, though, is that Wal-Mart's tune has changed.

Along with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) and the Center for American Progress, Wal-Mart--the nation's largest employer--has endorsed the so-called "employer mandate" which requires businesses to provide health insurance coverage in a letter to President Obama.

As Obama called for a new era of responsibility in his inaugural address, it looks as if the guys in Bentonville were listening. Bravo!

(c) Adonis Hoffman 2009