Community Service Spotlight
NATIONAL REPORT — Giving back through community service efforts and charity donations is a positive force that keeps many retailers and suppliers of this industry moving ahead. On a regular basis, Convenience Store News highlights these philanthropic efforts in this special section.
Here are the latest company spotlights:
The Coca-Cola Co.
The Coca-Cola Co. recently gave Metro Parks Tacoma in Washington State a $10,000 grant as part of the beverage company's fourth annual America is Your Park Campaign. The grant will help enhance construction of a new play and spray ground, to be constructed adjacent to the area's STAR Center and SERA Athletic Complex next year.
Coca-Cola has ties to Tacoma and Pierce County that date back 60 years. It currently employs 250 associates at the local Coca-Cola distribution center.
In other company news, Coca-Cola challenged Charlotte and Nashville residents to exercise a total of 200,000 minutes, with a community grant of $10,000 each hanging in the balance.
Both cities easily exceeded their goals with a total of more than 1 million minutes of healthy activities. In Nashville, 787 families registered for the program and totaled 544,715 minutes of activity. Charlotte registered 980 families and reported 543,445 minutes spent exercising.
Nashville's $10,000 grant will be used to purchase additional exercise equipment for a new Sevier Park Community Center, which is under construction in a popular residential neighborhood south of downtown.
Residents who participated in each city were also awarded prizes such as Harris Teeter gift cards, YMCA memberships, bicycles, fitness equipment and a grand-prize family trip to Universal Orlando Resort.
Dr Pepper Snapple Group
Public parks will be getting cleaner in communities across the country thanks to Dr Pepper Snapple Group (DPS) and the Keep America Beautiful (KAB) Park Recycling Bin Grant Program.
Now in its first year, the Dr Pepper Snapple Group/KAB partnership is designed to establish or expand recycling opportunities in different park settings, from neighborhood parks with playgrounds or athletic fields to regional parks with trails and natural settings. In an effort to help local, regional and state parks increase and make more convenient recycling opportunities available for visitors, Dr Pepper Snapple Group committed to a one-year collaboration with KAB to fund the placement of recycling bins.
The KAB partnership is part of DPS' ongoing commitment to environmental sustainability. The company has set specific operational goals to improve efficiency in energy and water use, reduce manufacturing waste and conserve packaging resources by 2015.
GreenSmartLiving
Electronic cigarette company GreenSmartLiving will launch a wildfire aid program to help those affected by the Black Forest, Colo., wildfire. From now through September, the company will donate 10 percent of its sales from the state of Colorado to the Pikes Peak Foundation Emergency Relief Fund.
This fund has been designated to benefit non-profits, first responders and other agencies providing shelter, food, water, cleanup materials, safety equipment and other assistance to the thousands of people who remain displaced from the most destructive wildfire in the state's history.
Just Born Inc.
Just Born Inc. turned its primary production plant in Bethlehem, Pa., into a landfill-free facility. This means that all waste generated by the company is reused, recycled or processed as a renewable fuel at an Energy-from-Waste (EfW) facility. The company has been certified as a landfill-free enterprise by Sustainable Waste Solutions (SWS).
Just Born recycles 92 percent of its waste and has been recognized by The Professional Recyclers of Pennsylvania with the PA Waste Watchers Award. The remaining 8 percent of waste that previously could not be recycled was sent to a landfill. Now, that waste is being compacted in a self-contained compactor from SWS. The compacted material is then taken to a Covanta EfW facility where the waste is converted to energy. The compactor was installed and operational as of March.
Pester Marketing Co.
Pester Marketing Co. d.b.a. Alta Convenience and Alta Fuels donated 31,686 bottles of Nestle Water to the 1,200 firefighters battling the West Fork Complex fires in southern Colorado. The West Fork Complex fire is a trio of wildfires — the Papoose Fire, the West Fork Fire and the Windy Pass Fire. According to InciWeb.org, it had burned over 110,000 acres as of July 5.
The truckload of bottled water from Pester Marketing was delivered June 28 to the West Fork Complex Supply Unit in Del Norte, Colo. Upon arrival, the semi-truck containing 22 pallets of water was unloaded, placed in supply unit vehicles and sent to the firefighters.
Western Refining Inc.
Western Refining Inc. and its more than 224 convenience stores raised the bar in its second year of supporting the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) and its fight against muscle disease. The convenience store chain raised $351,824 through the "Make A Muscle, Make A Difference" mobile campaign.
The program started in late April and continued through May 28. MDA's mobile program — which sells $1 and $5 "Make a Muscle, Make a Difference" mobiles in stores — directly helps local families affected by muscular dystrophy and related diseases.
Last year, Western Refining raised more than $249,000 for the MDA.