Wegmans shoppers in Bel Air raise nearly $4,000 for local food bank

Shoppers at the Wegmans in Bel Air raised $3,921 for the Harford Community Action Agency this summer, part of a two-week checkout donation drive the grocery chain runs every year to help feed children when school is out.

What’s happening: The campaign, called Fill the Bus or Fill the Backpack depending on the region, ran June 3 to June 17. Customers were asked to donate at the register, with every dollar going directly to the food bank tied to that store. Across all Wegmans locations, shoppers raised $769,300 — a record for the campaign and $43,000 more than in 2025.

Why it matters locally: The Harford Community Action Agency uses donations like these to fund summer feeding and backpack programs for school-age children in the county. Those programs fill the gap left when free and reduced-price school meals are not available during summer break.

The bigger picture: Wegmans has run the Fill the Bus campaign since 2013. Since 2021, it has raised more than $3.5 million through the checkout donation format. Before that, from 2013 to 2019, customers donated more than 3.7 million pounds of food directly.