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:

7-Eleven Inc.

In west Texas, the annual KODM Cares for St. Jude Kids Radiothon recently received a $40,000 check from 60 local 7-Eleven/ALON stores.

Over the past few weeks, the convenience stores have been selling boots to "help kids kick cancer. " They also donated a penny for every gallon of fuel they pumped. Additionally, the c-stores partnered with PepsiCo to give 10 cents for every Pepsi 20-oz. drink sold during the promotion.

Casey’s General Stores Inc.

Customers and patrons of Casey’s General Stores helped to raise more than $400,000 during January for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) through its annual JDRF Sneakers Sales Campaign.

The Sneakers Sales Campaign allows customers to show their support by making a monetary donation for a sneaker pin-up at any Casey’s location. Since beginning the partnership with JDRF in 2008, customer donations have totaled more than $1.4 million.

Cumberland Farms Inc.

From now until March 20, the recently-opened Cumberland Farms store in Southborough, Mass., will donate 20 cents to the Boys & Girls Club of MetroWest for every brewed tea, coffee and Chill Zone beverage sold. The goal is to raise at least $1,000. The fundraiser is part of the grand opening celebration for the Southborough store, which opened at the end of last year.

The fundraiser will also help the charity replenish materials that the kids use daily. The Boys & Girls Club of MetroWest offers programs for more than 750 kids in the area.

According to Cumberland Farms, the company has donated more than $100,000 to local organizations in the Northeast over the past year.

The ExxonMobil Foundation

The ExxonMobil Foundation is collaborating with the National Engineers Week Foundation for the 10th consecutive year to host "Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day" at 16 company locations across the United States. The program promotes interest in engineering among middle-school students and helps reduce the gender gap in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields.

ExxonMobil employees will lead fun, hands-on activities that connect math and science to everyday life and reinforce classroom instruction. Activities include water-purification experiments, energy-industry demonstrations using 3D technology to search for oil and natural gas, and exploring the science of manufacturing cosmetics.

The National Science Foundation estimates that 80 percent of jobs in the next decade will require math and science knowledge. The Congressional Joint Economic Committee reports that women represent just 14 percent of engineers and comprise only 27 percent of mathematics and computer science professionals.

More than 7,000 students have participated in ExxonMobil-sponsored science and math activities since the program began in 2003.

The Gate Foundation

Via its Green Shamrock Campaign, the Gate Foundation will support the Muscular Dystrophy Association’s (MDA) quest to cure neuromuscular diseases. From today through March 21, all Gate convenience stores will sell $1 green shamrock lapel pins.

MDA’s Shamrocks Against Dystrophy program directly helps local families that are affected by the 43 diseases that the association covers, including Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and ALS (known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease). Proceeds from the shamrock sales help to support the association’s worldwide research program, as well as MDA’s national network of 225 hospital-affiliated clinics, including the University of Florida and The Mayo Clinic of Jacksonville.

Shamrock sales also help send some 1,200 children with muscular dystrophy to barrier–free MDA summer camp like Camp Suwannee in Dowling Park, Fla.

Guinness & Co.

For this St. Patrick’s Day season, Guinness & Co. is teaming up with the Leary Firefighters Foundation (LFF) to invite all legal drinking age adults to responsibly raise a pint in support of firefighters across the country. Guinness encourages consumers to get involved via the brand’s "$100,000 Pour," a live GUINNESS pint mosaic that will be comprised of consumer pledges, each of which represents $1 of the $100,000 donation that Guinness has committed to the LFF. Together with the LFF, Guinness will help provide the necessary equipment, technology and training to America’s bravest.

The Leary Firefighters Foundation was founded in 2000 by actor Denis Leary after a tragic fire in Worcester, Mass., claimed the lives of his cousin, childhood friend, and four other firefighters. The foundation’s mission is to provide funding and resources to fire departments across the country to ensure they are able to obtain the best available equipment, technology and training.

Since its inception in 2000, the LFF has raised more than $10 million that has been utilized to provide critical resources, including a state-of-the-art high rise training facility for the Fire Department of New York (FDNY).

 

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