The Grocery Outlet store in Woodland is giving directly to the community through the end of July for the Independence From Hunger food drive.
“Grovery Outlet’s been doing this annual drive since 2001,” said Deanne Moreno, co-owner of the Woodland Grocery Outlet. “Back then, they reached over $220,000, and now, as of 2026, we’re over $5 million annually.”
The store has a display of sealed paper bags set up near the front registers. The bags include prices to let customers know how much it would cost to donate specific bags for the food drive.
Once a bag is paid for, a cashier takes it to a store cart. Once a cart is full, it is wheeled into the back to join the others that have already been bought.
“That’s how Grocery Outlet originally started out with Independence From Hunger, just feeding a family one bag at a time,” Moreno said.
Item types vary widely within each bag, including anything from cooking oil and granola bars to bags of chips.
Moreno noted that the assortment of products in each bag exists because different age groups need different types of food, and families need more than just one item to stay fed.
“It’s very time-involved when you’re bagging the groceries,” Moreno said. “Then, for Hands of Hope to come and get it and break it down into their food bank, it’s very time consuming.”
Each Grocery Outlet store is independently owned and operated, which means each location gets to choose who they partner with to make the food drive successful and reach the intended people.
At the Woodland store, the chosen partner for the food drive is Hands of Hope, a local nonprofit organization that’s focused solely in the Woodland community.
“They come over here with signs, and if people can’t come and get the food, because a lot of the time they don’t have vehicles, they’ll literally drive it out to them,” said Jocelyn Hatfield, store manager of Woodland’s Grocery Outlet.
According to Hatfield, if she sees someone in need while driving around Woodland, she can call Hands of Hope, which will drive out to give them what they need, be it shoes or food from the pantry.
“We’ve got refrigerators and freezers for any of the cold or frozen stuff. We’ve got shelves for all the dry goods and canned goods,” said Steve Mauldin, president of Hands of Hope. “We have a crew of people that come in beforehand and they get it all set up and ready.”
Hands of Hope has their base of operations in their community center. They set it up almost as if it’s another store, with the biggest difference being that the food is already paid for by a generous customer from Grocery Outlet.
“The fact that it stays local is huge for the community, because they just want to help each other,” Moreno said. “Some customers come in two or three times a day and donate every time they come in.”
As people keep flowing through the store, the bags keep piling up in the cart near the registers because of the community’s desire to be involved.
Local vendors and businesses have also given their time and resources in contribution to the food drive. Notably, Kalama Sourdough leads a grilling event with the store, and the Woodland Police Department comes to the store and bags people’s groceries for a few hours at a time.
“We don’t stop in July. We donate every month. We do it every week,” Moreno said. “Our focus is in July, Independence From Hunger, and then from there we will start rolling into back to school, Thanksgiving and especially Christmas. Then, it goes into Easter. It’s nonstop.”
The store keeps a constant focus and dedication at the forefront of its operations, encouraging people to give, not because they want it for themselves, but
