General Mills Donates to Local Food Bank With Every Text-Truth! & Outdated!
Summary of eRumor:
Facebook posts claim that General Mills with donate the equivalent of 12 meals to your local foodbank if you text “Hunger” or “Meals” to 35350.
The Truth:
An outdated promotion from 2015 in which General Mills donated to local food banks every time someone tested “Hunger” or “Meals” to the number 35350 resurfaced in March 2017.
However, General Mills was participating in another food bank promotion in which donations would be made to a nonprofit that supports local food banks every time shoppers enter product codes into the Outnumber Hunger website.
The outdated post, which originally appeared at the Facebook page of nonprofit organization Feeding America on March 4, 2015, included information about the SAM’s Club Outnumber Hunger campaign:
*For every code from a participating product you enter online at http://www.outnumberhunger.com/samsclub by January 31, 2016, General Mills will donate 1.20 to Feeding America® – enough to secure 12 meals on behalf of local food banks. Maximum total donation to Feeding America® from General Mills in conjunction with Sam’s Club’s promotion is up to $225,000, based on online code entry, text and other consumer actions through General Mills promotions with Sam’s Club. To text your code, text HUNGER to 35350 by March 31, 2015.
Although the deadline for the General Mills food bank promotion states that the deadline was March 31, 2015, the post began circulating again in early 2017. There seemed to be some confusion about the promotion as well. People could text HUNGER to 35350 in order to enter a qualifying product code that would trigger a donation to food banks — so proof of purchase was necessary.
At the time the General Mills food bank rumor resurfaced in March 2017, Outnumber Hunger and General Mills was running a similar promotion with different details, according to a website where product codes from specially marked General Mills products could be entered:
*For every code you enter by January 31, 2018, we will donate 45¢ to Feeding America® — enough to secure 5 meals on behalf of local food banks. Maximum total donation of $700,000. We have already donated $500,000. We will donate up to an additional $200,000 based on online code entry and other consumer actions. Look for more information about the program at www.OutnumberHunger.com.
In the new version of the General Mills food bank promotion, there wasn’t any indication that you could text HUNGER to 35350 to register a qualifying product code. But click here to enter a code online.