YORK, Pa. -- Scott Hartman, president of Rutter's Farm Stores, brought "green" with him in the form of a $100,000 donation to Junior Achievement of South Central Pennsylvania. But a second purpose for his addressing the 100 fifth-graders from Ore Valley Elementary School on their December 7 visit to JA BizTown in York was to promote another type of greenthe environmental kind.
The JA BizTown program promotes financial literacy through a classroom course and a visit to an interactive simulated town comprising 14 shops, including a Rutter's-sponsored caf [image-nocss] a.
The Ore Valley students sat on the floor surrounding the town's square. Student Maxwell Lohss, who served as mayor, presented Hartman with a proclamation declaring "Rutter's Day." In turn, Hartman handed Lewis 10 stuffed Rutter's cows.
"The mayor's job," Hartman told him, "is going to be to listen to his citizensand he's going to have to decide who comes up with the best ideas. And he'll give a cow to the 10 best ideas on how to make this a better community."
Hartman emphasized the importance of companies such as Rutter's giving back to their community, both financially and by caring for the environment.
In an interview with BizTown's WBIZ-TV, student reporter Thomas Kauffman asked Hartman what "green" meant to him. Hartman said it involved looking after the planet so that "we can live on it in a nice way for a long, long time."
Hartman also announced details of Rutter's "Win Green Design Contest," encouraging the students to join Rutter's customers in submiting drawings for a new recycling bin that will sit in front of each Rutter's store. The bins are to encourage customers to recycle cans and bottles they may have in their cars rather than just throwing them in the trash. The contest is part of a list of 15 initiatives Rutter's is undertaking to make its stores more environmentally friendly. They include the use of more-efficient light bulbs, the recycling of frying oils for use in biofuels and the installing of white roofs on new stores.
Junior Achievement of South Central Pennsylvania, including JA BizTown, is in Rutter's home town of York, Pa. Junior Achievement offers financial literacy and workforce development programs to area schools and organizations throughout Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Perry and York counties.
Click here to "visit" JA BizTown.
Family-owned and third-generation managed, the Rutter's companies comprise 51 Rutter's Farm Stores, Rutter's Dairy and M&G Realty, a real-estate holding company.
[Pictured: Front, from left, JA BizTown "Mayor" Maxwell Lohss and "bank CEO" Thalia Colon; back, Scott Hartman, president of Rutter's Farm Stores; Tom Russell, president, JA of S. Central PA; and Todd Rutter, president of Rutter's Dairy.]
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