We commend Starbucks, the high-priced, addictive java joint, for listening to the suggestions of its employees and customers and coming up with a way to help the hungry while reducing food waste.

The Seattle-based company announced Tuesday that it would donate unsold food from its stores daily to local food banks. Through a new initiative called FoodShare, the company will give sandwiches, salads and other refrigerated food that is beyond the expiration date but still consumable to families in need.

The company has been giving away pastries since 2010 through its partnership with Food Donation Connection, which matches retailers with food banks. But expensive, perishable ready-to-eat meals left unsold at the end of the day were thrown out because of food safety policies.

Now, however, they will be picked up by refrigerated vans and distributed through Feeding America’s network of food banks.

With an estimated 50 million Americans — including 15 million children — struggling daily to avoid hunger, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Starbucks’ initiative will be welcomed in communities across the country.

Hunger is no stranger in Richmond, where officials say 25 percent of the city’s residents live in poverty. Many families are having a hard time putting enough food on the table, much less affording the bistro boxes and iced caramel macchiatos routinely enjoyed by Starbucks’ patrons.

Locally, FeedMore’s Central Virginia Food Bank is a part of Feeding America’s network. Since 1980, the food bank has provided hunger relief to families and individuals in an area that has grown to include 31 counties and five cities, including Richmond and Petersburg.

A food bank spokeswoman said Wednesday the agency is waiting to learn details of the new arrangement with the 7,600 company-owned Starbucks stores nationwide and how it will work in Metro Richmond. Starbucks officials said Tuesday they expect to provide 5 million ready-to-eat meals to families in the first year. By 2021, they project that number will rise to 50 million meals annually.

We hope that Starbucks’ generosity will go a long way in helping families in the Greater Richmond area. And we hope that it will spur other retailers to share their blessings with local communities in need as well.