Phila. Salvation Army gets $100,000 donation

The Salvation Army of Greater Philadelphia is getting a $100,000 donation from the Walmart Foundation to help fight hunger and poverty.

A spokesman for the human-services agency said the gift would be presented Thursday.

The agency will use the money to support its new Peer Mentoring Program, which is based on Witnesses to Hunger, part of the Center for Hunger-Free Communities at Drexel University's School of Public Health.

Witnesses to Hunger, created by Drexel professor Mariana Chilton, began as a program in which Chilton gave cameras to 40 low-income North Philadelphia women and asked them to photograph their lives.

The program evolved, and many of the women were trained to be mentors for other low-income women facing the difficulties of hunger, violence, and other poverty-related problems.

As the Witnesses to Hunger program grew to include women in other cities, the Salvation Army was inspired to expand into similar work, said Ingrid Broadnax, director of foundation and government relations.