Community in Action: How Trader Joe’s Helps Keep Recovery Free

We are honored to highlight Trader Joe’s and the vital role they play in keeping our programs running smoothly.

Through their Neighborhood Shares program, Trader Joe’s ensures that 100% of unsold—but still safe and high-quality—food is donated to local food banks and nonprofit recovery partners. Since 2014, Manager John Rodriguez and the incredible team at the Lower Greenville location have faithfully supported The Magdalen House, donating groceries and produce valued at more than $16,000 each month. Every Sunday, their generous donation provides food for our First Step program clients and our wider Recovery Community.

At The Magdalen House, our mission is to help individuals with alcoholism achieve sobriety and sustain recovery—completely free of charge and grounded in 12-Step spiritual principles. Options for formal rehabilitation are often prohibitively expensive. In North Texas, we remain the only organization offering no-cost social detox and recovery programs for alcoholic women and men without requiring insurance or state funding. Because 17% of Texans—about 4.9 million people—do not have health insurance (Every Texan, 2023), partners like Trader Joe’s are critical in helping us keep programming costs low and services accessible to those who need them most.

But Trader Joe’s gifts extend beyond groceries. Recovery is built on service—giving back, guiding others, and finding purpose through community. Volunteerism is a cornerstone of our programs, benefiting not only the women and men we serve but also those whom they can serve. Thanks to Trader Joe’s weekly donations, volunteers step in to pick up, deliver, and sort the food, creating six dedicated volunteer opportunities each week to strengthen recovery through service.

Last year, we expanded our mission to include programming for men, allowing us to serve up to 100% more individuals affected by alcoholism. While one in twelve women struggles with alcoholism, the rate among men is even higher—one in eight, or about 662,000 individuals in the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex alone have the disease. As the demand for our men’s First Step program continues to grow, Trader Joe’s support remains an anchor in helping us meet these urgent needs.

Their donations provide a wide variety of essentials that feed our residential First Step clients (up to 20 women and 12 men each week). This includes meat, dairy, produce, bread, and more, which also reaches members of our broader Recovery Community who face food insecurity.

As an alumna, Peggy Woolf shares:

“Trader Joe’s has been such a blessing—not only in my life but in the lives of others who struggle to rebuild after addiction. Their support of The Magdalen House has given so many the opportunity to focus on recovery rather than the worries of everyday necessities such as food costs. Truly a blessing!”

Every Texan, “Uninsured in Texas,” https://everytexan.org/our-work/policy-areas/health-care/health-insurance-coverage/uninsured-in-texas