Hannaford Bros. Co. kicked off its annual Have a Heart for Hunger campaign on Sunday, Feb. 5.

The program is designed to help provide hunger-relief to organizations in five states. Shoppers at Hannaford stores in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and Massachusetts will have an opportunity to help fight hunger in their communities by contributing to the campaign. The program, now in its third year, has raised more than $185,000 for America’s Second Harvest agencies since its inception.

Under the terms of the program that runs until March 4, customers can make their donations part of their food bill. Stores will have donation coupons at all registers, in $2 and $5 denominations. One hundred percent of money raised will be donated to local food banks.

“We are proud of our longstanding commitment to fight hunger through the support of this program and food donations of over 8 million pounds each year,” said Caren Epstein, Hannaford spokewoman. “This year, high energy costs will send more people to emergency food assistance agencies throughout the region. Through Have a Heart for Hunger, Hannaford associates and customers will have an opportunity to help agencies meet those increasing demands.”

Hannaford Bros. Co., based in Scarborough, Maine, operates 150 supermarkets and food and drug combination stores in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York and Massachusetts. These stores operate under the Hannaford Supermarket and Hannaford Supermarket and Pharmacy names. Hannaford employs more than 24,000 associates. The company is owned by Delhaize Group of Brussels, Belgium.