ROCHESTER, NY, 2015-4-24 — /EPR Retail News/ — During the winter 2015 checkout scanning campaign at 26 Wegmans stores in Massachusetts, Buffalo and the Southern Tier of New York, and parts of Pennsylvania, hunger relief donations rose to $1,033,363, a 6% increase over the winter 2014 total. Check Out Hunger allows customers to donate $2 $3, $5 or any other amount at checkout with 100% of the proceeds going to each store’s local food bank.
“Results like these show that our customers and employees recognize how food banks build healthier communities,” said Linda Lovejoy, Wegmans community relations manager. “We’re continually grateful for this support and generosity.”
The food banks that will receive donations are listed below with the amount raised, and in parentheses, the Wegmans stores that raised money for them:
Massachusetts
Greater Boston Food Bank – $39,031 (Burlington and Chestnut Hill)
Worcester County Food Bank – $13,049 (Northborough)
New York
Food Bank of the Southern Tier – $235,310 (five stores in the Southern Tier region)
Food Bank of Western New York – $580,104 (11 stores in the Buffalo region)
Pennsylvania
Central Pennsylvania Food Bank – $43,079 (Harrisburg and Williamsport)
Food Bank of the State College Area – $29,235 (State College)
Second Harvest Food Bank of Northwest Pennsylvania – $78,467 (Erie Peach St. and Erie West)
The Weinberg Northeast Regional Food Bank – $15,088 (Dickson City and Wilkes Barre)
The winter campaign ran at various dates from February to March. Timing of the annual checkout scanning campaigns varies by region. The remaining Wegmans stores in Maryland, New Jersey, the Greater Rochester region of New York, Eastern Pennsylvania, and Virginia run annual checkout campaigns during the fall season. Wegmans stores in the Greater Syracuse region of New York are in the midst of their spring campaign.
Hunger relief scanning campaigns raised a total of $2.7 million at Wegmans in 2014. Since these programs began in 1993, Wegmans has raised more than $26 million for hunger relief.
In addition to money raised for emergency food services in 2014, Wegmans also donated approximately 15 million pounds of food to local food banks, food pantries, and soup kitchens across all of its market areas.
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Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is an 85-store supermarket chain with stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts. The family-owned company, founded in 1916, is recognized as an industry leader and innovator. Wegmans has been named one of the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ by FORTUNE magazine for 18 consecutive years, ranking #7 in 2015. The company also ranked #1 for Corporate Reputation, among the 100 ‘most-visible companies’ nationwide in the 2014 Harris Poll Reputation Quotient ® study.
Contact Information:
Jo Natale, vice president of media relations, 585-429-3627
Michele Mehaffy, consumer affairs manager (Buffalo media only), 716-685-8170