Community Service Roundup: Initiatives by 6 Retailers and More (September 2016)
By Kristina Hurtig on Sep. 26, 2016CHICAGO -- This community-service roundup features National Coffee Day with a twist, a Halloween-themed pinup program, a new use for the car wash and more. Click through to read more about these charitable efforts from convenience-store retailers, as well as initiatives from suppliers, manufacturers and a quick-service-restaurant concept.
Chevron
Chevron’s 2016 Fuel Your School program has launched, with $6 million available to help fund eligible classroom projects in 18 U.S. communities. From Oct. 1 to 31, when consumers purchase eight or more gallons of fuel at participating Chevron or Texaco stations, the Fuel Your School program will donate $1. Chevron has pledged to donate as much as $6 million through the program. Public schoolteachers from participating communities are invited to post classroom projects at www.DonorsChoose.org through Nov. 15.
Chevron’s Fuel Your School program has helped fund more than 33,685 classroom projects since 2010.
Love's Travel Stops
To celebrate National Coffee Day, Love’s Travel Stops will donate $1 for every 24-ounce coffee or cappuccino to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. The promotion begins on National Coffee Day (Sept. 29) and runs through Sept. 30.
Also through Sept. 30, Love’s customers can support CMN Hospitals by purchasing a balloon pinup for $1, $5 or $20. Oklahoma City-based Love’s annual campaign to raise funds for CMN Hospitals began Aug. 26, and it is more than halfway to its 2016 store campaign goal of $2.3 million.
QuickChek
Eighteen volunteers from QuickChek’s headquarters in Whitehouse Station, N.J., and various stores sorted and boxed donations at the Community Food Bank of New Jersey in August. When their three-hour shift ended, the QuickChek team had boxed 10,395 pounds of food, which fed more than 5,100 families in need. In addition to the Community Food Bank of New Jersey, the company also supports food banks in New York’s Hudson Valley and on Long Island.
Stripes Convenience Stores
Stripes Convenience Stores, which is owned by Dallas-based Sunoco, is raising funds through its Stripes Stores Celebrates Tomorrows campaign for the University of Texas MD Anderson Children’s Cancer Hospital to help kids with cancer. Through Oct. 4, Stripes customers can donate to the campaign by purchasing a $1 paper pinup. The campaign has raised more than $2.75 million for the hospital during the past two years. Stripes’ goal this year is to raise $1.3 million.
VERC Enterprises
Through its affiliation with the New England Car Wash Association, VERC Enterprises, Duxbury, Mass., is offering community organizations the opportunity to use Briteway Car Washes in Marshfield and Norwell, Mass., for fundraisers. The opportunity is available to parent-teacher organizations, schools and other not-for-profit establishments.
VERC is also partnering with the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind (MCB) to provide employment and internships for individuals deemed legally blind. VERC Enterprises has hired one employee and one intern through the MCB with the expectation of bringing on more individuals in the future, said Barry Ahern, director of operations and human resources for VERC.
Western Refining
El Paso, Texas-based Western Refining will be selling Halloween-themed pinups for $1 and $5 at Giant locations in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Colorado. The monthlong campaign supports the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Carl Buddig & Co.
In conjunction with Hunger Action Month, Carl Buddig & Co. is launching the nationwide #ShareALunch social campaign. The Homewood, Ill.-based company will partner with the Greater Chicago Food Depository to donate 2-ounce Buddig Original Turkey pouches for every #ShareALunch social post, plus $5,000 worth of Buddig Turkey.
Chester's
Chester’s, a quick-service-restaurant concept with headquarters in Birmingham, Ala., recognized truck drivers during National Truck Driver Appreciation Week (Sept. 11-17). A number of industry groups came together during the week to recognize the 3.5 million drivers and the roughly 4 million support personnel in the industry.
PDQ Manufacturing Inc.
PDQ Manufacturing, a manufacturer of in-bay automatic vehicle wash systems, donated $5,000 to the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Wisconsin. The Dover Foundation—the philanthropic arm of PDQ’s parent company, Downers Grove, Ill.-based Dover Corp.—matched the amount for a total donation of $10,000.
Have a community-service announcement of your own to share? Send related news to Kristina Peters at kpeters@winsightmedia.com.