Cause Marketing/ Community Programs

AUSTIN — Whole Foods is supporting Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry campaign with several promotions:

• Whole Foods will match donations up to $25,000 of funds donated online, WholeFoodsMarket.com/holidays, to the cause;

• When shoppers purchase gift cards from Nov. 16 through Dec. 31, Whole Foods will donate $1 for every card purchased to No Kid Hungry;

New York City -- The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced that Panera Bread’s 35 Maryland locations are on EPA's list of top green power purchasers among retailers.
 
The company’s green power purchase of more than 11 million kilowatt hours for its 35 Maryland bakery-cafes is equivalent to avoiding the yearly carbon dioxide emissions of nearly 1,400 passenger vehicles or from more than 800 average American homes’ electricity use.

Deerfield, Ill. -- First Lady Michelle Obama on Tuesday toured a Walgreens store on Chicago’s South Side to view the company’s efforts to fight the childhood obesity epidemic and provide better food options and accessible health care to under-served communities.

The event was part of a mayoral summit hosted by the First Lady’s Let’s Move! initiative and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart announced that it has donated $5 million to the Smithsonian Institution to support the construction of the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) in Washington, D.C.

The NMAAHC was established in 2003 by Congress, making it the 19th Smithsonian Institution museum. It will be the only national museum devoted exclusively to the documentation of African-American life, art, history and culture.

CHICAGO — At an event Tuesday in Chicago, Supervalu announced that it will open a Save-A-Lot store in the Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago, bringing thae total number of Save-A-Lot stores in the Chicagoland area to 14. Supervalu, which said it is opening the store as part of its commitment to helping eliminate food deserts nationally, made the announcement alongside First Lady Michelle Obama and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel. The Lawndale store will open by the end of November. 

WAYNE, N.J. — The Toys"R"Us Children's Fund announced it will award $1 million in grants to 54 nonprofit organizations supporting children in the state of New Jersey. The grants will be distributed to the selected charities by Dec. 31 through the Fund's statewide giving initiative, which launched in March. According to the company, the grants will help to alleviate economic challenges and sustain organizations that favorably impact children across New Jersey, where both the Fund and Toys"R"Us Inc. are headquartered.

AUSTIN, Texas — Whole Foods announced that in just six weeks, its shoppers donated more than $2 million in stores and online to support the School Garden Grant Program, the first major initiative of the Whole Kids Foundation. In partnership with FoodCorps, the Foundation will fund $2,000 grants for schools in the United States and Canada to support the launch or expansion of school gardens.