We’ve been working on convenient new ways to make shopping easier for our busy customers and members.

You can see this in our rapid expansion of online grocery pickup across the country, as well as the grocery home delivery service offered in San Jose, California and Denver, Colorado. At our annual Shareholders Meeting, our CEO Doug McMillon will announce our newest pilot; a last-mile delivery test through services like Uber, Lyft and Deliv. Walmart will start with tests of grocery delivery through Uber in Phoenix and Lyft in Denver, which we expect to start within the next two weeks. This is in addition to a very quiet Sam’s Club pilot that started in March with Deliv involving delivery of general merchandise and grocery for business members in Miami.

Here’s how it works for Walmart grocery customers: A customer in one of the test locations places their grocery order online and selects a delivery window. Our personal shoppers, highly-trained Walmart associates, will carefully select and prepare their order. Then, our team may request a driver from one of these services to come to the store, pick up the customer’s order, and take it directly to the customer’s location. It’s all seamless to the customer. They pay us our normal $7-10 delivery charge online, and make no payment to the driver. We’ll also let them know their order is being delivered by a driver from Uber or Lyft.

At Sam’s Club, the process is very similar, with our personal shoppers preparing the orders for business members, and having their order delivered right to their door with Deliv. Our members who have used it, love it.

We’re thrilled about the possibility of delivering new convenient options to our customers, and about working with some transformative companies in this test. We’ll start small and let our customers guide us, but testing new things like last-mile delivery allows us to better evaluate the various ways we can best serve our customers how, when and where they need us.

Nine years ago, our first child was born. On that day we experienced overwhelming joy, but that emotion was flipped on its head only a few moments later when my son was rushed to the ICU with respiratory complications. Fortunately, everything was fine and we were able to take him home.

Two years later my wife, Mollie, gave birth to our twin girls. We again felt vulnerable as our girls developed respiratory issues at 4 months old. To ensure they were OK, doctors told us to monitor them every 45 minutes. We thought, “Well what happens between minutes 1 and 44?” This was both baffling and frustrating.

After many restless nights, my wife began searching everywhere for an affordable home oxygen monitor but couldn’t find one. From that point forward, Mollie was determined that we could come up with a solution ourselves.

Because I had a career background in developing sports products, I had some entrepreneurial experience, but Mollie was definitely the fire behind our subsequent invention, the Baby Vida Smart Monitor. She found engineers who could develop what she wanted – a wireless, portable yet affordable monitor that fits on a baby’s foot to measure oxygen levels and heart rate in real time. Also important to us was that the product could be made in the United States. Eventually we landed with S and Y Industries, a woman-owned manufacturer out of Kansas. Overall, it took about 5 years to make our idea a reality.

Our next challenge was putting the product out for sale. We immediately knew one place we wanted to go: Walmart. They are in every nook and cranny in the country and we knew that they would keep the price accessible. After some searching, I decided to contact Walmart’s buyer for baby products directly. Once she agreed on a meeting, we piled our four kids and a babysitter into our minivan and headed to Bentonville, Arkansas, with our fingers crossed.

The scene that we walked into in the corporate office was a flurry of people. Our nerves were soon calmed when we met with our buyer, a mom herself. She understood exactly where we were coming from and the need for this product. After some discussion, we were able to strike a deal.

Walmart taking a chance on our product has opened up a world of opportunity not just for us, but also for S and Y Industries who is now supplying the demand. We’re now working on our mission to develop an entire smart nursery under the Baby Vida brand.

Every parent deserves to know that their child is safe, and we’re proud to have offered a way to make that possible.

As a store manager, nothing compares to the thrill of actually seeing or hearing a customer react to a change I’ve worked with a team of associates to bring to life. In fact, since the remodel of our store earlier this year, I’ve purposely spent more time in our fresh produce department, just to watch and listen.

My store was among the first of our remodeled locations to unveil Walmart’s new Fresh Angle approach, which places fresh, unpackaged vegetables front and center. When you walk into our store today, you're intentionally greeted with a farmer’s market vibe. We’ve lowered the profile of our fixtures so customers can see across the entire department. We’ve captured the field-to-store experience, and in a way that’s easier and more enjoyable for customers to navigate. But – while the positive feedback on the visual aspect of the program represents a victory in itself – that barely scratches the surface of what Fresh Angle is all about.

The fact is, “looking” fresh only goes so far. The key is making sure the fresh produce our customers buy in our stores continues to look and taste the same when they pull it out of the fridge three days later. That’s the real driving force behind this new approach, which has been rolled out at 180 stores to date and more than 3,000 by the end of the year.

In addition to improving the sight lines across our produce department, we’ve reconfigured our fixtures to look fuller while holding fewer products. At the same time, we’ve maintained our broad assortment.

Why fewer products? Pressure and time go a long way in determining the freshness of an item. By reducing the depth of our produce fixtures, our avocados are no longer stacked four or five deep. Same goes for tomatoes and so many other popular fresh items. By reducing the depth of our fixtures, we’ve reduced the volume of product we’re holding on the sales floor at any given time. And, given the clock on freshness begins ticking the moment fresh fruit and vegetables are picked, we’re essentially passing increased freshness on to our customers – and working even harder to reduce food waste.

It was eye-opening how a department could look so abundant with less. It’s helping us reduce throwaways and operate more efficiently across the board. We’ve also received positive customer feedback at stores where Fresh Angle has been implemented.

Customers want fresher products so they can enjoy them longer. With Fresh Angle, we’ve developed a vehicle to deliver on those expectations. The impact has been immediate – and it’s growing. It just makes sense.

Ask Kris Hudson to name the price of a one-subject spiral notebook, and he'll quickly tell you 17 cents. And then add that you can get a folder for 15 cents, a pack of paper for 82 cents and pencils for 47 cents.

Kris, a customer service manager, doesn't work in the office supplies department. He's simply passionate about giving back and has led his supercenter in Bryant, Arkansas, to set a record high for its back-to-school supply drive for the local United Way.

Kris' love for helping families get ready for the school year began when he was in high school himself. He started at Store 3230 in Bryant as a cashier when he was 16 and would use parts of his paycheck to buy small items to donate at his store.

"I don't have kids of my own, but I've seen some struggle to get the school supplies that they need," said Kris, now 19 and a college student. "It was a small act for me, and it was something I could do to help out."

That sentiment caught on at his store. Since Kris started getting behind the school supply drive, donations at his store have grown from 1,000 to 6,000 items for local schools in Bryant.

Shift manager Jeff Cotton called Kris' enthusiasm infectious and said the whole store is backing the effort. "We filled six bins last year, but because of the excitement, we're upping it to 10. We have a big pyramid of donation bins set up," Jeff said. "Kris put it on social media, and customers are coming in asking for Kris."

Kris started at Walmart months after his mother passed away. That, along with an interest in the customers he serves, has inspired him to give back.

"To me that's what makes the job great -- getting to know the customers. I have customers who come in and they know me and I know them, and we chat and keep up on each other's lives."

As he got to know those customers, he saw families struggle to buy the supplies required for their children. Inspired by his mother's legacy, that's when Kris stepped in.

"She was such a giving person," Kris said. "It made me realize the things you have today might not be there tomorrow. You want to give as much as you can."

Since Kris joined Walmart, he has been promoted twice. He plans to study broadcast meteorology and hopes to stay with Walmart at least until the end of his studies.

In the meantime, though, Kris is happy serving his customers and making a difference in the community. He's even managed to marry his mission to his planned occupation. If the Bryant store collects 10,000 school supply items by the end of the drive on Aug. 4, the school superintendent and local meteorologist have agreed to take pies to the face.

Wouldn't that be a sweet way to start the school year?

Shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes – many of us take these basic supplies for granted, but these hygiene items can truly save lives.

In the wake of disasters and crises, where people have often lost everything or fled with just their clothes on their backs, a simple bar of soap can help keep families safe from deadly diseases like cholera.

With the help of our partners, International Medical Corps works to send these essential hygiene kits to countries such as Nigeria, where fighting has forced thousands from their homes in the north, as well as other disaster-prone areas where populations have been displaced.

On June 2, Walmart volunteers attending the company’s annual shareholders meeting came together to assemble hygiene kits for families uprooted by conflict in Nigeria and to prepare for when the next major weather disaster may strike. Along with essentials such as toothpaste, combs and nail clippers, the kits also included solar lights, which provide a safe alternative to fire for visibility during nighttime cooking and studying. These lights also help reduce the risk of violence and sexual assault.

This isn’t the first time International Medical Corps and Walmart have worked together to help disaster-stricken communities across the globe. When Ebola threatened millions across West Africa, the Walmart Foundation was among the first to help, providing swift and flexible support to our emergency response efforts. When a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal in April 2015, the Walmart Foundation stepped up once again with a donation that helped us meet immediate needs in some of the most remote villages at the epicenter of the quake.

It was great to see these several hundred volunteers working together. But more than simply showing up, everyone was engaged and wanted to know more about what we were up to and how to give back. The teamwork, energy and enthusiasm were infectious. Everywhere we looked, people were helping others, collaborating, and building hygiene kits for people in need.

Thanks to Walmart, the Walmart Foundation, and the hundreds of associates who came out to pack the family hygiene kits, International Medical Corps will be able to send 1,500 kits to countries affected by disaster and crisis. One thousand kits will be sent to Nigeria, where International Medical Corps is providing health, nutrition, and hygiene services in the remote northern region of the country to families who continue to be displaced by ongoing conflict.

The rest of the kits will be prepositioned and ready to be deployed in the aftermath of the next crisis – wherever and whenever that may be.