WILLIAMSVILLE, N.Y., 2017-Nov-27 — /EPR Retail News/ — For the past twelve years, the term Little Brown Bags of Hope has become synonymous with Tops Friendly Markets and the annual Food for Families campaign. What began as a one day campaign in Buffalo, NY to benefit the Food Bank of WNY has since expanded across the entire chains footprint reaching into Rochester, and Syracuse, NY as well as Erie, PA working with 11 food banks across all of the chains market and impacting more than 1.3 million people in need. Once again the Food Bank of North Eastern New York will benefit from this year’s campaigns efforts.As TOPS enters into its fourth season of the campaign it is seeking the communities support to surpass its corporate goal of 1.5 million meals, giving hope to families in need this holiday season. The campaign, which has been expanded to run an entire month, officially kicked off November 19 and will run until December 16, 2017. New in 2017, customers will now be able to purchase a Little Brown Bag of Hope paper icon at the register. Organizers moved away from the physical bags of food this year to increase efficiencies, allowing the Food Bank to expedite donations from the store to their operating facilities and then into the market. At the register customers will now be asked if they want to support the campaign by buying a $5 Breakfast, $10 Lunch, and/or $20 Dinner for someone in need in our community.
Also new in 2017 TOPS has introduced the virtual Little Brown Bag of Hope. Customers will now able to purchase the same $5 Breakfast bag, $10 Lunch bag, and/or a $20 Dinner bag online by simply visiting www.topsmarkets.com/littlebrownbags so no matter what the weather, a donation can be made right from their phone, tablet, or desktop.
Many locals love the tradition of bringing or purchasing their donation at the store and joining in on the festivities which will take place throughout the week with TOPS team members, local media sponsors Finger Lakes Media, and volunteers week December 11-14. The traditional Little Brown Bags of Hope will be available, along with the new donation elements, at the following Tops Friendly Market locations:
352 West Genesee Street, Auburn 321 Liberty Street, Penn Yan 2140 Walworth-Penfield Rd., Walworth 6179 NY RT 96, Farmington 504-1/2 Franklin St., Watkins Glen 1963 Kingdom Plaza, Waterloo
“From Plattsburgh to Newburgh, in urban, rural, and suburban communities, the Food Bank provides over 30 million pounds of food a year to 1,000 agencies,” said Mark Quandt, executive director, Food Bank of North Eastern New York. “When you serve that many people in over 23 counties a program like Food for Families is vital in replenishing the supplies necessary to meet the growing needs of the community. We are grateful to have the partnership with Tops Friendly Markets and our local media partners. This campaign provides a great venue in which our community can support such a vital need in our community.”
Tops Markets, LLC, is headquartered in Williamsville, NY and operates 171 full-service supermarkets with five additional by franchisees under the Tops banner. Tops employs over 15,000 associates and is a leading full-service grocery retailer in New York, northern Pennsylvania, western Vermont, and north central Massachusetts. For more information about Tops Markets, visit the company’s website at www.topsmarkets.com.
CONTACT:
Kathy Romanowski
716-635-5577
Source: Tops Friendly Markets