Community-Service Roundup December 2017: Initiatives by 7 Retailers
By Kristina Hurtig on Dec. 01, 2017CHICAGO -- This community-service roundup features charitable efforts from seven convenience-store retailers and four suppliers.
Click through to read about these initiatives, which include tree planting, free concerts and food donations ...
Casey's General Stores
Casey’s General Stores and its customers in 15 states raised $1.35 million during the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Summer Camp pinup program, which helps kids fighting muscular dystrophy and related life-threatening diseases attend the MDA Summer Camp at no cost to their families. From Aug. 1 to Aug. 31, Casey’s General Stores and its associates sold pinups for $1 and $5 contributions. This year’s pinups also included a buy two, get one free coupon for 7UP products.
Ankeny, Iowa-based Casey’s has raised more than $9 million since 2006 in support of the MDA.
Circle K
Laval, Quebec-based Circle K is inviting communities to support local schools by fueling up at specially marked Circle K fuel pumps as part of its Fueling Our Schools campaign. More than 360 Circle K stores in the United States and Canada are participating in the program, with the goal of raising more than $700,000 through 2018. One cent of every gallon of fuel sold will be donated to a participating school (up to $2,000 per school, per year).
Enmarket
The Girl Scouts of Historic Georgia was awarded a $1,000 Encourage Health grant on Oct. 24 during the fourth and final presentation of Enmarket’s 2017 Encourage Health Education Series. Other recipients include the Living Vine, Savannah Urban Garden Alliance and the Savannah Striders.
The Savannah, Ga.-based retailer also raised more than $30,000 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. All Enmarket stores sold paper icons to collect donations in support of the organization’s mission to cure blood cancer and help patients and their families.
Northwest Petroleum
Northwest Petroleum’s second annual Charity Classic Golf Tournament in October raised $143,525 for The Lighthouse of Houston, a nonprofit education and service center dedicated to assisting blind and visually impaired people to live independently.
Omer Malik, an employee of Houston-based Northwest Petroleum, started the tournament in 2016. Malik’s daughter Arya, 5, was diagnosed with microphthalmia, an eye disorder where one or both eyes are abnormally small, when she was 3 months old.
OnCue
OnCue Express raised $334,000 during the 25th annual St. Jude Halloween Promotion to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. During the month of October, participating restaurants, convenience stores, grocery stores and retail locations asked customers to donate at the register to support the hospital’s lifesaving mission of finding cures and saving children. This is the 11th year Stillwater, Okla.-based OnCue has participated in the promotion, raising more than $1,673,000 for St. Jude.
Parker’s
Parker’s fifth annual Fueling the Community Charity Golf Tournament, held in October at The Club at Savannah Harbor in Savannah, Ga., raised more than $100,000 to benefit education, healthcare and other important causes in areas where Parker’s operates convenience stores. The Savannah-based retailer operates 49 c-stores in Georgia and South Carolina.
Parker’s President and CEO Greg Parker was also recently named the 2017 Citizen of the Year by the Frank Callen Boys & Girls Club in Savannah. The honor was in recognition of his leadership of the Fueling the Community charitable giving program at Parker’s. Further showing his commitment to the community, Parker presented the Frank Callen Boys & Girls Club with a check for $2,500 to support the community center, which serves up to 300 children daily.
TravelCenters of America
Westlake, Ohio-based TravelCenters of America, operator of the TA and Petro Stopping Centers travel-center brands, raised more than $241,000 during its annual campaign in support of the St. Christopher Truckers Development and Relief Fund, a nonprofit organization that provides assistance to professional truck drivers whose medical problems have led to financial hardship. The Band Together for SCF campaign ran during August. TravelCenters has helped provide more than $2.2 million for the fund since 2010.
Gilbarco Veeder-Root
On Oct. 2, more than 1,500 Gilbarco Veeder-Root employees contributed an estimated 12,000 hours to cleaning up parks and recreational areas, visiting schools and assisted-living centers, making care packages for veterans and hurricane relief, and packing toiletry and snack kits for those in need. The Greensboro, N.C.-based supplier of fuel dispensers, point-of-sale systems and payment systems offered all employees a full work day to volunteer as part of a team or with the community organizations of their choice. It joined more than 175 other Fortive company locations around the world in this Day of Caring initiative. (Gilbarco is a subsidiary of Fortive.)
Swisher International
The Swisher Sweets Artist Project, an ongoing initiative to provide unique opportunities for artists to create, share and pursue their passion, donated $25,000 to MusiCares for Hurricane Harvey relief during a free concert in November featuring rapper B.o.B and Texas artists Lyric Michelle, KB the Boo Bonic, Gloria Prince and DJ Chose.
The Swisher Sweets Artist Project presents a live-event series in multiple cities across the United States, all while awarding more than $25,000 in grants throughout the year.
Talking Rain Beverage Co.
Kaleidoscope, a cloud-based scholarship marketplace based in Minneapolis, will award five $5,000 scholarships to college-bound students on behalf of Preston, Wash.-based Talking Rain Beverage Co., maker of Sparkling Ice flavored water. Students applying for The Sparkling Ice Flavorful Futures Scholarship will be evaluated based on academic achievement and the creativity of their application. The application period ends Feb. 15, 2018, and students can apply at bnbscholarship.com.
Talking Rain also donated $79,000 recently to support the Honor Flight Network, a nonprofit organization created to honor America’s veterans by transporting them to Washington, D.C., to visit and reflect at the memorials dedicated to their service. The Sparkling Ice sales team increased awareness and lent support to the organization through an internal competition. For each thematic "WOW" display built in stores throughout the summer months, Talking Rain donated to Honor Flight.
Tyson Foods
In October, Springdale, Ark.-based Tyson Foods partnered with NACS to donate a truckload of protein, about 36,060 pounds, to the Greater Chicago Food Depository to help fight hunger in the Chicago area. The Food Depository will distribute donated food, which is equivalent to 144,240 meals, through its network of partner agencies, including food pantries, soup kitchens and shelters services.
Have a community-service announcement of your own to share? Send related news to Kristina Peters at kpeters@winsightmedia.com.