Community Services Roundup, September 2020

CHICAGO — This month’s community service roundup features 14 convenience-store chains that are giving back to their neighbors.

Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores, Jacksons Food Stores and Murphy USA are just some of the c-stores that have donated their money, time or products for those in need.

Click through to see this month’s list …

Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores celebrated National Truck Driver Appreciation Week in September. From Sept. 14 through 18, drivers could get up to 5,000 My Love Rewards points (equal to $50) with the purchase of certain products.

The Oklahoma City-based c-store chain also gave away 4 million points. Each week, a driver won 1 million My Love Rewards points (equal to $10,000).

“We enjoy celebrating professional truck drivers all year long and with special promotions each September, but with the pandemic we are especially ready to say, ‘Thank you'," said Jon Archard, Love’s vice president of fleet sales. “As essential workers, professional truck drivers have continued to work hard to deliver important products and goods throughout the country, and the country is really in their debt.”

Love’s is also raising money for Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals throughout the country. The campaign runs through Oct. 3 and is supported by customers rounding up at the register. On Sept. 29, National Coffee Day, Love’s also showed support for CMN Hospitals. Customers could purchase any sized coffee for $1 through the Love’s Connect app that day, with all proceeds being donated.

Casey’s General Stores, Ankeny, Iowa, supported Hunger Action Month in September.

Casey’s made a goal of donating 10 million meals to school-aged children and their families during the month. To do this, the c-store chain partnered with Atlanta-based The Coca-Cola Co.

To raise money, customers can round up in-store purchases at Casey’s. Also, $1 of every $5 Coca-Cola four-pack at Casey’s will go directly up to Feeding America, up to $50,000.

Since Casey’s launched its partnership with Feeding America in May, it has provided cash donations to support COVID-19 relief at food banks in its communities and donated nearly 40,000 pounds of food. Casey’s team members will also volunteer at a food bank in September.  

QuickChek, Whitehouse Station, N.J., helped provided 2,400 meals to feed more than 400 children and families during a grab-and-go drive-thru pickup event organized by the Island Harvest Food Bank. Volunteers helped the foodbank distribute enough food to last each child three days as part of the foodbank’s childhood hunger program event.

This was the second time local QuickChek store team members aided Long Island families during the COVID-19 pandemic.

QuickChek also raised more than $761,000 as a partner of the annual Check-Out Hunger campaign that takes place ahead of the winter holidays.

Jacksons Food Stores, Meridian, Idaho, gave $203,762 to The Boys & Girls Clubs. Customers raised $101,881 through a round-up campaign and Jacksons’ President Cory Jackson matched that amount.

The funds will be distributed to 22 Boys & Girls Clubs in Arizona, Idaho, Oregon, Nevada, Utah and Washington. The club is Jacksons’ primary giving recipient.

Jacksons is planning a winter fundraising campaign where it will again match donations made to the Boys & Girls Clubs. Sales of PathWater bottled waters at Jacksons and ExtraMile by Jacksons also support the nonprofit.

EG Group, Westborough, Mass., is conducting an in-store fundraising campaign with United Way. Donations will help drive funding for youth development and educational resources across the communities in which EG Group c-stores operate.

C-stores participating in the fundraiser include Cumberland Farms, Certified Oil, Fastrac, Kwik Shop, Loaf 'N Jug, Minit Mart, Quik Stop, Tom Thumb and Turkey Hill.

The fundraiser runs from Sept. 9 through Oct. 9. Customers can donate a dollar amount of their choosing to a local United Way chapter at checkout.

Wawa stores offered a free hot coffee of any size to all teachers, faculty members and school administrators from Sept. 8 to Sept. 30 to show appreciation for their work.

“As students make their way back to school in-person and virtually across our communities, we wanted to show our tremendous appreciation for the teachers and faculty who are working tirelessly to educate children in our area despite the many unique challenges our schools face this year,” said Mike Sherlock, chief food and beverage officer for the Wawa, Pa.-based chain. “In a school year starting out unlike any we’ve experienced, we are happy to provide this small gesture for a limited time, and we are grateful to so many teachers for providing support for youth in our communities.”

7-Eleven, Irving, Texas, donated 3,200 cases of water, 3,200 bags of ice, snacks and hand sanitizer bottles to Lake Charles, La., citizens affected by Hurricane Laura. Free supplies were available at local Stripes c-stores while supplies lasted.

7-Eleven also donates a minimum of $250,000 annually to the American Red Cross as a National Disaster Responder member.

MAPCO, Franklin, Tenn., is giving 25% of its sales from masks in September and October to St. Jude. The campaign lasted through September, which is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and will continue through Oct. 31. MAPCO said when the campaign launched that it planned on raising $100,000 for the cause.

MAPCO customers can also support St. Jude and other charity organizations by donating to in-store coin boxes or through the chain’s website.

Murphy USA, El Dorado, Ark., kicked off its Home Office 2020 United Way campaign in September with record employee pledges of more than $375,000. With the company’s match, a total of $750,000 will be donated to support Union County United Way organizations, which have a greater need for support due to COVID-19, the chain said.

Murphy USA also announced a $10 million gift to the Murphy USA Charitable Foundation, which will benefit communities, with an emphasis in El Dorado and southern Arkansas.

Murphy USA customers have also rounded up more than $1 million at the register for the Boys & Girls Club of America.

Kwik Chek, Bonham, Texas, has raised more than $2,600 for Texas CASA and other CASA programs through the Round Up for CASA program. Customers can round up their purchase at the register to benefit the organization, which works to improve the child protection system through legislation and other public policy efforts and acts as a voice for children in the court system.

Kwik Chek is also helping the national coin shortage by exchanging dollar bills for rolls of coins at the register.

Parker’s, Savannah, Ga., donated $30,000 to Beaufort County Schools in South Carolina as part of its Fueling the Community program, which donates one cent of every gallon of gas sold on the first Wednesday of each month to local schools. The donation was presented on Sept. 15 during a school board meeting, which was virtual due to the coronavirus pandemic.

A portion of the Parker’s donation funds the school district’s annual Support Person of the Year program, which honors school nurses, social workers, bookkeepers and more support staff.

Parker’s Fueling the Community charitable initiative distributes more than $200,000 annually to public and private schools throughout Georgia and South Carolina.

TravelCenters of America (TA), Westlake, Ohio, is launching its first point-of-sale fundraising campaign to help professional drivers who may be out of work due to an illness or injury.

Customers can round up their order to the nearest dollar at travel stores, and the donated amount will benefit the St. Christopher’s Trucker Relief Fund.

TA has raised nearly $3 million to date for the organization, which said that more than 70% of the 3.5 million professional truck drivers in the United States have one or more serous health problems such as obesity, diabetes, sleep disorders or cardiovascular disease.

“We’re committed to giving back to the millions of professional drivers who call us their home away from home,” said Barry Richards, president of TA. “These men and women sacrifice so much for our country, including their own physical health. This point-of-sale campaign provides an easy way for fellow drivers, our other customers and our employees to help those in need.”

The campaign will run at participating TA, Petro and TA Express travel centers through Nov. 30.

Enmarket, Savannah, Ga., donated 10,000 reusable 20-ounce water bottles to students in Bryan County’s public schools to ensure its 9,600 students have water bottles as they return to classes.

COVID-19 guidelines recommend schools turn off water fountains during the pandemic.

“When we became aware of this need, we saw a way to give back to the community, give back to the education system and to make school a safe experience for students,” Enmarket President Brett Giesick said.

In August, Enmarket also gave 32,000 water bottles to Savannah-Chatham students and 14,000 to Effingham, Ga., students.

MFA Oil Co., which operates Break Time c-stores, raised $175,000 for Operation Homefront at the Sixth Annual MFA Oil Charity Golf Scramble. The nonprofit provides emergency and financial assistance to the families of U.S. military service members and veterans.

“We are proud to continue supporting military families through our partnership with Operation Homefront,” said Jon Ihler, president and CEO of the Columbia, Mo.-based chain. “It’s an honor to present the organization with our largest one-year donation, which brings our total raised to almost $850,000 since 2015. We could not have done this without the generosity of our event sponsors, golfers, customers and employees.”