Thursday, May 14, 2009

Fresh Buzz - News & Notes About Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market: Fresh & Easy to Give $131,145 to Area Schools


Breaking Buzz: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Giving Out $131,145 to Southern California, Las Vegas and Arizona Schools: Proceeds of 'Shop for Schools' Fundraising Program-Promotion

Fresh Buzz has learned that the 494 Kindergarten through eighth grade schools in Southern California, Arizona and Metro Las Vegas, Nevada that participated in Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's "Shop for Schools" fund-raising program and promotion for public schools have raised a combined total of $131,145.

According to Tesco's Fresh & Easy, 322 elementary schools in Southern California participated in the fund-raising program, along with 86 schools in Arizona and 86 schools in Nevada.

Under Tesco Fresh & Easy's "Shop for School's" school fund-raising program, which ran from February 1 -to- March 31, 2009, the grocery and fresh foods chain pledged to donate $1 for every $20 a customer spends at a Fresh & Easy market during the program time period.

The participating schools can us the money they get from the program to purchase supplies and other needed items for their respective schools.

Kindergarten through eighth grade schools located within a three-mile radius of any Fresh & Easy store were invited to participate in the "Shop for Schools" program.

[Read our December 17, 2008 story for additional details: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 'Shop for Schools' Fund-Raising Program to Aid Schools Near its Stores.]

According to Tesco's Fresh & Easy, the participating Southern California-based schools raised a total of $81,724 during the February 1 -to- March 31 period. Mountain Meadows Elementary School in Moorpark, California was the top fund-raising school in Southern California.

Participating schools in Arizona raised $18,498. The Anasazi Elementary School in Scottsdale, Arizona was the top fund-raising school out of all of the schools in the state that participated in the "Shop for Schools" program.

And the participating schools in the Las Vegas, Nevada Metropolitan region raised $30,923 in the fund-raising program and promotion. Hayes Elementary School in Las Vegas, Nevada was the top fund-raiser in southern Nevada.

Besides getting all of the they money raised, the top three fund-raising schools mentioned above are each getting a $5,000 bonus donation, according to Tesco's Fresh & Easy.

Staff, students and parents of the participating schools encouraged friends and family to shop at Fresh & Easy stores from February 1 -to- March 31 through a variety of ways, including word of mouth, making posts on Blogs and social networking sites, and holding events, explaining that for every $20 spent at a Fresh & Easy market the grocer would donate $1 to their respective schools.

Store customers could designate to Fresh & Easy store-level employees the specific school where they wanted the $1 per $20 purchase to go, which most did.

Out and about

Fresh Buzz has also learned that members of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market's senior management team are out and about today presenting checks, including the $5,000 bonus checks, to the top-three schools: Mountain Meadows Elementary School in Moorpark, California; Anasazi Elementary School in Scottsdale, Arizona; and Hayes Elementary School in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy currently operates 120 small-format (10,000 -to- 13,000 square-foot), convenience-oriented combination grocery and fresh foods markets in California (Southern and Bakersfield), Metropolitan Las Vegas, Nevada and in the Phoenix Metro region in Arizona. There are 61 Fresh & Easy stores in Southern California and three in Bakersfield. The remaining 56 units are split about evenly between Metro Las Vegas and Metro Phoenix.

Fresh Buzz salutes Tesco's Fresh & Easy and all of the parents, school staff and students who raised a nice chunk of change through the grocer's "Shop for Schools" program so that the participating schools can have some needed extra money to buy supplies and other items for their schools -- items that they might not otherwise be able to afford.

Grocers and community

Numerous other grocers have and are conducting school fund-raising programs similar to Fresh & Easy's "Shop for Schools."

U.S. food retailers -- chains and independents -- conduct such programs not just as promotions designed to bring in additional sales, but because most understand that they are, just like schools, an integral part of the fabric of society, community and neighborhood.

Fresh Buzz thinks that's a good thing.

[Readers: Follow Fresh Buzz and Fresh & Easy Buzz around on Twitter.com at www.twitter.com/freshneasybuzz.]

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