‘Tis the Season for Grocers Doing Good

By: David Fikes, Vice President, Consumer/Community Affairs and Communication, Food Marketing Institute

The holiday season provides an extra layer of charm for families and communities that is equal parts: goodwill, comradery, joyful sound, and, we hope, some meaningful silence.  Yes, there is the bustle, but amidst the scurry, there is also the poignant reminder to take a deep breath, spend time with loved ones, and remember what is important in life. Just like the holidays, the Community Outreach Awards are all about activity, but it is activity imbued with meaning. Each year, I’m grateful for the opportunity to learn about the various acts of generosity that food retailers do because these outward acts vividly demonstrate the inward depth of caring characters constituting this industry. 

Food retailers do much more than simply provide their customers with food items to purchase; they also feed the spirit of their community in acts of human kindness. The Community Outreach Awards highlight the oft-unmentioned goodwill of grocers that serve and shape our communities. We, at FMI, are continually amazed by the caliber of the nominated programs we receive and 2016 was no exception. The 14 nominated programs made it difficult for our judges to choose the best of the best in each category, but they managed.  Here are the 2016 Community Outreach Awards Winners:

Youth Development Program Winner

Northgate Gonzalez Market's "Cooking Up Change" program provides students from low-income schools with the tools to transform their school lunch menu, develop culinary skills, improve self-esteem, and continue their education in nutrition. Lunches from Cooking up Change have been integrated into the school food menus in public schools and are now served regularly in some districts including Orange County.

Programs Addressing Food Insecurity Winner

The "Double Up Food Bucks" program created by Family Fare, a SpartanNash company, is a public-private partnership administered by Fair Food Network with support provided by federal, state and private sources. For each dollar of fresh Michigan produce SNAP customers purchased an equivalent amount of points will be earned and placed on their yes Card. In 2016, the number of participating stores has more than tripled. Number of customer participation increased 61 percent from August to September.

Neighborhood Health Improvement Programs Winner

In September 2016, Food Lion Feeds' Great Pantry Makeover program transformed 38 food pantries in its 10-state footprint in 30 days. Food Lion mobilized its community to eliminate hunger by providing 1.7 million meals in total and more than 1,400 volunteer hours by renovating facilities, providing equipment and stocking pantries

“People’s Pick” Social Media Category Winner

This year, a record-breaking 3,000 votes were cast in FMI’s “People’s Pick” Social Media Category with Hy-Vee, Inc. being the winning company.  HyVee designed a free, online program to help kids and families make health, exercise and nutrition not only priorities in their everyday lives but also fun! Part of the program, Hy-Vee KidsFit, provides an interactive health and wellness website for children, teens and families that offers a free, online personal trainer. On average, the program is reaching 1,000 to 2,000 kids each week and adding numerous people to its Facebook fan page, website hits and weekly challenge sign-ups. Through their work with schools and assemblies, the Hy-Vee KidsFit team visited more than 50 schools and reached nearly 21,000 students last school year.

Congratulations to all our Community Outreach Award winners and thanks to all the companies submitting a nominated program.