Persuasive Memo For The CSR Program On The “Hunger Free Arkansas” Adoption By Walmart Corporation Essay Samples

Lab Section:

Though, the stakes are too high, but it’s worth a try. Within the Arkansas community, it is most unfortunate that food insecurity is highly prevalent than before. The CSR program of the Walmart on “Hunger Free Arkansas” is unique own its own with structured featured to make the Arkansans realize that food insecurity is highly unacceptable and that everybody deserves a place at the table. The Walmart “Hunger Free Arkansas” Program is missioned to create a community where no one has to go hungry by getting more food to more of the community’s families. The suffering of the Arkansas residents due to food insecurity is due to low living standards of the majority of the population with a number being victims of abject poverty (McCullough et al., 2008). The success of the program would of great significance for the community and the company in a number of ways.
The “Hunger Free Arkansas” program is an initiative destined to succeed due to the surrounding history of the American Federal Hunger Relief Programs which encompasses the general overview of the action of Feeding America in line with giving support to a number of federal programs which help in feeding Americans suffering from hunger. The “Hunger Free Arkansas” will constitute the humanitarian anti-hunger programs which are supported by the federal government over the services to ensure an increased supply to the food banks for donations. The “Hunger Free Arkansas” program would be in the league of firmly established American relief food programs which include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), and The Summer Food Service Program (SFSP), The National School Lunch Program (NSLP), (Wilson, 2010). The increased participation and contribution in such programs of the federal nutrition assistance are among the effective measured to reduce hunger in U.S. This is an indication of the looming success of the “Hunger Free Arkansas” due to the support of the federal government in sustaining the hunger levels in the different states.
The program geared to improve the living standards of the people is of positive impacts to the entire community as a feed society is free from crime, and healthy eating eliminates chances of disease outbreak and the vulnerability of the body physiology to succumb to such circumstances due to weak immune system (Early, 2013).

Company’s Profile

The Walmart Stores Corporation is an American multinational retail corporation. The retail corporation operates an array of warehouse stores and department stores and is headquartered in Bentonville, Arkansas (Moreton, 2009). The year 1962 marked when Sam Walton founded the company and later got it incorporated on October 31, 1969.
The records of the Fortune Global 500 list of 2014, the Walmart is rated the world’s largest company by revenue and also the biggest private employer globally, having about 2.2 million employees. This great success has been kept alive and moving due to the impact of the corporation’s mission-“We save people money so they can live better.”
According to Moreton (2009), the Walmart Company has embraced a greater form of CSR of different forms within its global business arena, for instance, sponsorship programs for a number of activities in the communities it operates, scholarship programs to top performing employees and children around their environs of operations. But the CSR program on “Hunger Free Arkansas” is be considered for roll-out with consideration to the underlying facts of the Arkansas people on food insecurity issue which is prevalent in the community.
The roll-out of the Arkansans’ “Hunger Free Arkansas” program within the organizational operations of the Walmart Company would be a collectively pulled initiative. The overall program coordination will be that task of the Department of Community Outreach and Charity Initiatives under the watchdog of one Mrs. Monicah Winfrey.

Community issue of Bentonville, Arkansas

Arkansas ranks the top in the country in the context of food insecurity at 19.7 percent. This would mean that Arkansans like no other American tends to be not sure of where to get the next meal (McCullough et al., 2008). The children of Arkansas who may only depend on the school lunch as the day’s meal have high risk of malnutrition. Those who are working but are still poor, constitute the category of individuals whose paychecks cannot sufficiently buy foodstuff for a whole month, must get an alternative source of food. The Arkansas elderly individuals would only be able to choose between their groceries or prescriptions. The underlying fact is that the Arkansas experience an increased rating in food insecurity within the senior people compared to different states within the nation.
There is still need to supplement the action taken by the Arkansas Alliance for Hunger Relief, through their different food banks, volunteers, corporate partners and relief agencies who are committed rolling out to the community providing programs, education, food resources and activism towards feeding the hungry Arkansans. The growing need of the food resources provision to the community is majorly due to low-income status of the residents, the high population growth rate, and the high poverty levels in a significant proportion of the population.
The 2009 statistics ranked Arkansas the first in the country in childhood hunger. The rating show an alarming statistics which calls for the roll out of a program like the proposed one of the Walmart “Hunger Free Arkansas” with a greater level of urgency to help rescue the population from health related diseases as a result of lack of eating well.

CSR program details

The proposed Walmart program on “Hunger Free Arkansas” to the community of the Arkansas would be rolled out in a strategic manner to meet the key objectives its set to meet. The program pioneers look into the gap that the Arkansas Alliance for Hunger Relief and its affiliate members missioned to provide food resources to the Arkansas population has not bridged. That is, ensuring supplementing the Arkansas Alliance for Hunger Relief programs through the identification of the strategic locations and category of people who have not been reached with the food resources provision sufficiently. This category will be provided with the foodstuffs from the company.
The company wants to maximize on the utility creation of their resources as the previous data released showed that a lot of foodstuffs especially the highly perishable would go waste by rotting and then being thrown away. The need to utilize this food before it could be a waste is an area that the program is geared to achieve apart from the main objective of ensuring food provision to the Arkansans with a view to achieving food security for the Arkansas population.
The program would be rolled out weekly by about twelve of the company’s staff including the track driver. This would be done every Monday of the week. A half-filled 10 feet container of foodstuff would be packed by the staff of Walmart and transported to an already identified location for distribution. The process of distribution would be done to other food pantry locations like the Fishnet Missions Food Pantry, Calvary Temple, Gods house a Safe place to Come Home to Outreach Ministries, Lake Hamilton Assembly of God Church Food Pantry and the Fish Net Missions Jacksonville. Smith (2009) identifies that these food pantry locations are critical in ensuring that the foodstuff donated by Walmart Company are distributed to the persons with first need of food security.

Program benefits

The benefits that are projected to be derived from this program are enormous both to the community in general and the company itself. The increase of the food supply in the Arkansas food pantries is beneficial as the poor population would access ready foodstuff for consumption thus reduction of the community’s food insecurity issue. The food security results to a healthier community which is disease and crime free.
The Walmart Company would find the program benefiting as its image with the general community is hastened more positively as the community appreciates its contribution towards alleviating the food problem in the area. This marks a marketing strategy for the company as it reaches the community at a significant level of need. The reduction in the waste of foodstuffs due to perishability and lack of sales is a resource optimization strategy for the company in making sure that every resource is used optimally to the benefit of the company or society.

Low/ No Cost program

The program of “Hunger Free Arkansas” would be less costly in comparison with the previous costs incurred due to waste management of the wasted foodstuffs. The management of the waste material from the company seemed more costly as it rated to about $ 1221 monthly, whereas the program is projected to cost about $1145 monthly. The benefit derived from the program would of great significance as it raised the socials standards and the general social being of the Arkansans.

Conclusion

The company’s CSR program of the “Hunger Free Arkansas” is one that would be of great impact to the company in raising its global competition standards and the positively raised community perception of the company. The contribution of the company in such service to humanity is scaling a higher notch of undertaking business in the modern world, in which organizations are basically for profits and profits alone (Smith, 2009). The adoption this “Hunger Free Arkansas” program would be the beginning of a greater pioneering stance of business operations from a different front.
Therefore, the Walmart’s CSR program of the “Hunger Free Arkansas” is an inevitable undertaking that would boost the corporation’s reputation, image, and the general global publicity.
Furthermore, history on U.S. hunger programs through the federal nutrition assistance have done outstandingly well. Therefore, Walmart rolling out a hunger program in coordination and cooperation with such federal programs is a clear show of success possibility. Hence, the stakes may be too high as had initially been recognized in this memo, but this “Hunger Free Arkansas” program is worth being given a try.

References

Early, S. (2013). Save our unions: Dispatches from a movement in distress.
McCullough, E. B., Pingali, P. L., Stamoulis, K. G., & Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (2008). The transformation of agri-food systems: Globalization, supply chains and smallholder farmers. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
Moreton, B. (2009). To serve God and Wal-Mart: The making of Christian free enterprise. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press.
Smith, A. F. (2009). Eating history: 30 turning points in the making of American cuisine. New York: Columbia University Press.
Wilson, M. R. (2010). Hunger: Food insecurity in America. New York: Rosen Pub.