Community Service Roundup: 9 Retailer and Supplier Initiatives (January 2017)
By Kristina Hurtig on Jan. 13, 2017CHICAGO -- Retailers, as well as their suppliers and providers, ended 2016 on a high note, donating to several nonprofits and conducting food and toy drives.
Click through to read about these efforts, as well a couple of campaigns that have launched for the new year …
1. enmarket
The Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) and enmarket, a c-store chain based in Savannah, Ga., are partnering on a monthlong customer-donation campaign in which money raised will go toward supporting PHA’s mission to ensure all kids can grow up at a healthy weight. Throughout January, customers at any enmarket c-store in Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina can add $1 to their purchase in support of the cause.
Enmarket also donated $1,000 each to four area nonprofit organizations—The Coastal Georgia Council of Boy Scouts of America, Savannah AMBUCS, Savannah Tree Foundation and Urban Hope Inc.—during its 2016 Encourage Health Educational Series.
2. Minnoco
Along with the ethanol industry group Growth Energy, 22 Minnoco retailers in the Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minn., area raised $15,000 for Hope Chest for Breast Cancer. Together they donated 2 cents from every gallon of E15/unleaded plus fuel sold during the second annual Pink Out promotion, which ran from Sept. 16 to Oct. 31. Hope Chest helps pay for emergency nonmedical needs for breast cancer patients, including house payments, utilities and healthy meals.
Minnoco is a brand of gasoline developed for the members of the Minnesota Service Station & Convenience Store Association.
3. NACS
NACS, Alexandria, Va., recently held collection drives to help two community groups. NACS staff purchased 120 toys for the Alexandria Community Toy Drive and donated more than 300 pounds of dry beans to DC Central Kitchen. The NACS donations mirror what c-stores contribute to communities across the country. C-stores contributed or collected nearly $990 million to charities in the past year, according to a national survey of retailers released by NACS in October 2016.
4. NOCO Energy
All 36 of NOCO Energy’s NOCO Express locations collected nonperishable items the week before Christmas to donate to St. Luke’s Mission of Mercy in Buffalo, N.Y. The donations filled an entire truck. NOCO Energy is based in Tonawanda, N.Y.
5. Rocky Mountain C-Stores
Rocky Mountain C-Stores, Grand Junction, Colo., hosted a No One Goes Hungry on Christmas promotion. The company offered a free meal, consisting of hot dogs, french fries, a drink and a Tastee Freez soft-serve cone, to anyone who came by its five locations in Grand Junction, Parachute and Montrose, Colo., on Christmas Day.
6. Rutter’s
At the end of 2016, York, Pa.-based Rutter’s provided many of its employees with $1,000 checks to give to organizations they felt deserved the donation. More than 20 checks were given out during the holiday season, including to Veterans’ Helping Hand, Children’s Home of York, Red Lion Area Community Service and Hospice & Community Care. A full list of charities receiving support from Rutter’s can be found at rutters.com/charities.
7. GSP
Retail services provider GSP contributed to several charities, including Give Kids The World, United Cerebral Palsy, American Red Cross and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, on behalf of its customers. The donations were announced to GSP’s clients in their holiday cards with a note of appreciation for their business in 2016. GSP is based in Clearwater, Fla.
8. f'real foods
As part of its partnership with Make-A-Wish and in addition to more than $100,000 in annual contributions, Emeryville, Calif.-based f’real foods hosted a group of wish children at its lab recently, where each child developed a milkshake concept. f’real then asked its social-media followers to vote on the flavors, and 9-year-old Raffi, who created a Frosted Cupcake milkshake, was crowned the winner.
Through Jan. 31, f’real will also donate $5 to Make-A-Wish, up to a total of $25,000, for every Instagram and Twitter post containing #myfrealwish. The company will showcase all social-media wishes posted on its website, myfrealwish.com.
9. PepsiCo
Purchase, N.Y.-based PepsiCo and Feed the Children teamed up for a food distribution event Dec. 9 in Phoenix. About 800 families received enough food, including nonperishables, PepsiCo beverages, Frito-Lay snacks and Quaker Chewy Granola Bars, to supplement meals for a week. Personal-care items, Disney books and Avon products were also distributed.
On Dec. 10, PepsiCo and Feed the Children also partnered with the Magic Johnson Foundation to distribute food to 400 families in Compton, Calif.
Have a community-service announcement of your own to share? Send related news to Kristina Peters at kpeters@winsightmedia.com.