Wal-Mart donates millions of meals to America's Second Harvest

Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), the world's largest retailer, will be donating 3 million meals (value: $1 million) to America's Second Harvest (ASH). ASH is the largest hunger-relief organization in the U.S., and with such a large donation, it's great to hear Wal-Mart contributing to those less fortunate as a response to the nationwide shortage in food banks this month.

Wal-Mart will deliver 50 food-filled trucks to each state in the U.S. with an equal share of the 3 million donated meals, which will comprise the main portion of the retailer's donation. As a kudos to Wal-Mart, it was listed as being the first corporation to respond to ASH's call to action based on a national food shortage in food banks all over the U.S. To ensure those in need at least have a holiday meal to enjoy, Wal-Mart's donation will supply 25% of the 12 million meals the ASH says are needed. Meals will include grocery items like macaroni and cheese, oatmeal, peanut butter and jelly, spaghetti pasta and sauce, corn, beans and potatoes.

Will Wal-Mart win some positive PR by getting all these food donations in place within every U.S. state by next Tuesday -- Christmas Day? Most likely, yes. In a year that saw the giant retailer fend off sharp arrows from just about every critic it has, all that needs to be put aside to recognize the latitude of this kind of corporate giving. To other retailers that have not yet responded: Wal-Mart has set the bar for you. Let's see other food retailers measure up during the remainder of this week.