'Shop for Schools 2010': Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Raises $1.3 Million For Local Schools

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has raised $1.3 million in its third annual Shop for Schools fundraising program - nearly double the amount raised last year - which it's giving to participating schools in California, Nevada and Arizona, where the fresh food and grocery chain has its 173 stores.

About 2,000 kindergarten through eighth grade schools participated in the 2010 school fundraising program, according to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market. The program ran from September-December 2010.

Any kindergarten through eighth grade school located within a three-mile radius of a Fresh & Easy store can participate in Shop for Schools by signing up in advance of the program's start. For every $20 spent by customers at a Fresh & Easy store from September 15 to- December 31, 2010, participating schools received a $1 donation. In addition to collecting receipts, which the schools then submit to the grocery chain, registered schools can also participate in Fresh & Easy Shopping Nights, which are four hour (4 p.m.-8 p.m.) designated shopping blocks, organized for each specific participating school. Fresh & Easy donates 5% of all purchases made during the shopping night to the school. [Click here for the program's official rules.]

The three winning schools this year, one each in California, Nevada and Arizona, are:

>Southern California: Sunset View Elementary - which raised $10, 815 (first place)
>Arizona: Christ Lutheran School - which raised $8,114
>Nevada: R.E. Tobbler Elementary School - which raised $7,707

In addition the getting the amount of money they raised, Tesco's Fresh & Easy awarded each of the three winning schools a $5,000 bonus for raising the more money thn all the other participating schools.

This year's first place win is a repeat for Sunset View Elementary, which also took first place honors in last year's  Shop for Schools program. Watch and listen to the reaction of the school's Shop for Schools coordinator, Tori Curtis, and some of the Sunset Elementary students, in the brief video here, as they're told they've won for the second year in a row.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market first launched Shop for Schools  in spring 2009, raising more than $130,000 for schools in California, Nevada and Arizona. Last year (fall 2009) Fresh & Easy and its customers raised $670,000 for the participating schools. [See the stories linked at the end of this piece for details about the 2008-2009 programs.]

This year's record $1.3 million raised is due to a combination of factors, including: greater participation by schools, parents, teachers and students; more schools signing up for the program; the designated shopping nights; and the fact Tesco's Fresh & Easy opened numerous new stores in 2010, which expanded the geographical reach of the program.

That geographical reach will be even greater for the 2011 Shop for Schools program, which Fresh  Easy Neighborhood Market plans to kick-off in mid-May, because the grocery chain has now expanded into Northern California, where its opened eight stores so far this year, with three additional new units opening on April 27.

Additionally, for the first time Fresh & Easy is planning to offer schools the ability to register for the fundraising program online, which should make it even easier for more schools to get involved.

Numerous grocers are raising money for local schools. Among the major chains doing so include: Walmart Stores, Target, Safeway Stores, Inc., Kroger and others. Numerous local smaller chains, such as Mollie Stones Market's in Northern California and others, also regularly donate money to schools in their market regions.

The need by schools for supplemental monies from grocers and others continues to grow, particularly in states like California, Nevada and Arizona, where school budgets are being challenged do to serious financial stresses being experienced by state and local governments and public school districts.

For example, John P. Cole, a public school trustee in Clark County (Las Vegas) Nevada says about Fresh& Easy's Shop for Schools program and supplemental aid to schools in general: "I am thoroughly impressed that Fresh & Easy uses such an innovative and productive approach to becoming a welcome partner in its communities through assisting local schools. Although programs such as this should never be considered as a replacement of any of the state's responsibility to adequately fund education, it does allow local schools to raise funds for a wide variety of program uses. These kinds of community partnerships are a much needed boost in difficult times such as these," Cole says.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market will be posting information on its website in Mid-May about its 2011 Shop for Schools program.

Related Stories

September 16, 2010: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 2010 'Shop for Schools' Program; Shopping Nights Add Foot Traffic & Sales

May 14, 2009: Fresh Buzz - News & Notes About Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market: Fresh & Easy to Give $131,145 to Area Schools

February 9, 2009: Grocers & Community: 769 Schools in Southern California, Nevada and Arizona to Participate in Tesco Fresh & Easy's 'Shop For Schools' Program

January 23, 2009: Fresh & Charitable: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Extends Deadline For Schools to Register For School Fundraiser Program

December 17, 200: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 'Shop for Schools' Fund-Raising Program to Aid Schools Near its Stores

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 2010 'Shop for Schools' Program; Shopping Nights Add Foot Traffic & Sales

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has launched its third-annual 'Shop for Schools' program.

Fresh & Easy kicked off the program - which raises money for participating schools in the communities in California, southern Nevada and Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona, where its 165 fresh food and grocery stores are located - yesterday, at the grand opening of its newest store in Fresno, California. [You can read our story about the two new Fresh & Easy stores that opened yesterday, one in Fresno and the other in next door Clovis, here: September 15, 2010: Two New Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Stores Open in Fresno, California Region Today.

In the 'Shop for Schools' program, participating schools receive a $1 cash donation from Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market for every $20 register receipt collected by students, parents, teachers, school staff and others, from any Fresh & Easy store.

The program runs from September 15 -through- December 31, 2010.

At the end of the program, Fresh & Easy awards the top fundraising school in each of the three states a $5,000 bonus, in addition to the amount of money raised by the schools during the program.

This is the third year the program is being held by Tesco's Fresh & Easy. Last year, all the participating schools combined raised a total of about $800,000. Read our stories at the links below for information and details about the previous years' programs:

>May 14, 2009: Fresh Buzz - News & Notes About Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market: Fresh & Easy to Give $131,145 to Area Schools

>February 9, 2009: Grocers & Community: 769 Schools in Southern California, Nevada and Arizona to Participate in Tesco Fresh & Easy's 'Shop For Schools' Program

>January 23, 2009: Fresh & Charitable: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Extends Deadline For Schools to Register For School Fundraiser Program

>December 17, 2008: Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 'Shop for Schools' Fund-Raising Program to Aid Schools Near its Stores

Shopping nights = added foot traffic and sales

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has found a way to leverage the 'Shop for Schools' program into increased foot traffic and sales in its stores, by creating what it calls 'Shop for Schools Shopping Night(s).'

The shopping nights are organized events in which parents, students, friends, teachers and school staffers at the participating schools get as many people as they can to shop at a Fresh & Easy store from 4 pm -to- 8 pm on the night their specific school is designated as having a 'Shop for Schools Shopping Night.' [How the shopping nights work is depicted in the graphic above, and here.] As part of the event, Tesco's Fresh & Easy donates 5% of all sales during the four hour period to the school. For example, If $10,000 is taken in during the four hour shopping period, the school gets an added $500 from the grocery chain.

Fresh & Easy Buzz has talked to a number of Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market store managers, who've told us the shopping nights bring added foot traffic and sales, ranging from 15% -to- 40%, to their stores on the days the events are held.

Additionally, last year, one of the key strategies for the three winning schools - one in California, one on Nevada and one in Arizona - was that parents, school staff, students and others were able to round up throngs of friends and family to shop during the four hour shopping night event for their respective school.

Grocers & community

We suspect participation in this year's program will be even greater than it was last year for a couple of reasons.

First, Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market has opened a number of additional stores since the end of the last 'Shop For Schools' program ended, as well as extended its geogrpahical reach a bit.

Additionally, the 'Shop for Schools' program has become more known now that it's in its third year.

Lastly, and unfortunately, public schools in California, Nevada and Arizona are struggling economically as much this year, and in some cases even more so, than they were last year do to the continued economic recession and high unemployment, along with the fact that the federal government funds distributed to school districts from the early 2010 economic stimulus package are about all dried up.

As such, programs like Fresh & Easy's and others, like Safeway Stores Inc.'s annual '10% Goes Back to Schools,' program, which is currently going on and is in its sixth year, can provide much needed assistance, particularly for programs and other things needed but no longer allocated for in current very lean school district budgets.

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.]

Fresh & Charitable: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Extends Deadline For Schools to Register For School Fundraiser Program

Fresh & Easy Buzz was the first publication to report on December 17, 2008 in this linked story [Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 'Shop for Schools' Fund-Raising Program to Aid Schools Near its Stores] that Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market was launching its "Shop for Schools" school fundraising program. Numerous other Blogs and mainstream media publications have since reported on the development, following Fresh & Easy's announcement of the program in this press release on January 7, 2009.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy has now extended the registration deadline to January 30 for schools in Southern California, Metro Las Vegas, Nevada and the Phoenix, Arizona Metro region -- the three Western U.S. markets where the grocery chain has its 110 small-format grocery and fresh foods markets -- to sign up for the program.

The "Shop for Schools" sign-up works like this: "All eligible Kindergarten through 8th grade schools within a three-mile radius of a Fresh & Easy store can participate in the program. For every $20 spent at a Fresh & Easy store, participating schools can get a $1 cash donation," according to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market chief marketing officer Simon Uwins. [You can read additional specifics at our December 17, 2008 piece at the link above.]

The program begins on February 1, 2009, ending on March 31, 2009.

[Note to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market: We think the program time period is a bit short, just like the school registration period was, which is why the company has extended it. We suggest you consider extending the program period -- say instead of ending it on March 31, run it until at least April 15-16. And since April 15, 2009 is income tax deadline time -- and since income tax revenues to state and city governments are going to be much reduced this year over last because of the recession -- such timing, ending on April 15 or 16 instead of march 31, would be good.

Additionally, schools get most of their revenue from property taxes. Those revenues are going to be way down as well because of the foreclosure crisis and the housing valuation crunch. And nowhere is this going to be more true than in Southern California, Nevada and Arizona, which are three of the top U.S. regions for foreclosures and reduced housing value over the last year. That extra two weeks will help the schools -- which are going to need all the help they can get.]

Tesco's Fresh & Easy says it's already "signed up hundreds of schools in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada in the program."

"We have seen an incredible response to our 'Shop for Schools program'. Schools are telling us they are searching for ways to raise money especially in the current (down) economy," said Fresh & Easy chief marketing officer Simon Uwins. "With school budgets so tight, we are proud we can help our neighbors."

According to Uwins, the "Shop for Schools" program is designed to work like this: "Registered schools will mobilize parents and students to collect Fresh & Easy (store) receipts and then submit them for verification. Fresh & Easy will cut a check to the school for the amount raised. The money raised can be used for whatever the school needs most. The school in each state that raises the most money will receive a $5,000 cash bonus from the company. [Our linked December 17, 2008 piece at top offers additional details.]

Grocers raising money for schools and students is "old school," which we like. Supermarkets throughout the U.S., including in the west, have been and are running similar fundraising programs, ranging from cash donation programs and others to the popular "Apples (computers) for Schools" program, in which free Apple Computers are provided to schools. It's good to see Tesco's Fresh & Easy join in the school fundraising process.

Additional information about the grocery chain's "Shop for Schools" program is available at:
www.freshandeasy.com/shopforschools.

Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Launches 'Shop for Schools' Fund-Raising Program to Aid Schools Near its Stores

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is launching what it is calling its "Shop for Schools" program.

Under the program, which is similar to many offered by other U.S. supermarket chains in its market regions, Fresh & Easy will donate $1 for every $20 a customer spends at a Fresh & Easy grocery and fresh foods market from February 1, 2009 -to- March 31, 2009, to a participating school the customer designates.

Fresh & Easy says it has sent registration forms to every qualifying primary school within a three-mile radius of all of its stores in Southern California, Southern Nevada and in the Phoenix, Arizona Metropolitan region. The schools have until January 23, 2009 to register with Tesco's Fresh & Easy to participate in the program.

Fresh & Easy says it created the program, which starts on February 1 of next year, because the grocer wants to be a good neighbor in the communities where it has its stores. On its Web site notice about the program, Fresh & Easy says: "We know how important schools are to our neighborhoods and how critical fundraising is to provide your schools with needed resources. So we created 'Shop for Schools' to help."

The supermarket industry in the Western U.S. has over the years become a significant source of providing extra funding via donations for special programs for school districts.

For example, most of the major supermarket chains and many independents in California, Nevada and Arizona participate in the "Apple in Schools" program, in which they donate a certain percentage of money, based on customer purchases similar to the new Fresh & Easy program, to be used to provide Apple computers to schools for no charge.

Among those chains and independents in California, Nevada and Arizona include: Safeway Stores, Inc., Ralphs, Stater Bros. Albertsons, Bashas, Save Mart, Raley's and many others.

Additionally, numerous chains and independents conduct various regular promotions such as "script," gift card and others in which they add contributions to customer purchases, the proceeds going as cash donations to local schools. Modesto, California-based Save Mart, which operates about 250 stores throughout Northern and Central California, is one of the top supermarket chain's in raising money for schools, for example. It operates various different programs throughout the year designed to raise money for the schools in its market areas, including making substantial corporate donations to numerous schools.

Food manufacturers also run programs to assist schools. For example, for decades the Campbell Soup Company has run a program in which consumers collect the labels off its famous red and white line of condensed soup, turn the labels into Campbell's, and in return the company donates a certain amount of money per-label-turned-in (up to a limit) to schools.

Part of the reason behind the supermarket industry getting involved in raising money for schools has to do with the local nature of how K-through-12 education is funded and run in the U.S.

The schools are run locally rather than by the federal government, as is the case in many other western democracies. It's often referred to as "home rule." Community residents elect a school board, and the board hires the school administrators and makes policy, similar to how a corporate board of directors operate, at least in concept.

Schools in the U.S. also are funded primarily by local tax dollars. And the portion of money the federal government gives to schools is distributed by the states to the county level, which then is distributed to local school districts.

Over the last about 30 years, money for extra curricular programs at K-through-12 schools in the U.S. has been steadily reduced, especially for programs like art and music and for things like field trips. Along with this funding reduction, the overall funding hasn't kept up with all the new technologies like computers and Internet connections available to educators and schools. In fact, money for basic school supplies is barely available as well, which is why it's not uncommon to see teachers often spending their own money to purchase needed classroom supplies.

This is why programs like those conducted by food retailers and others -- fund raisers -- are so important and unfortunately needed by the schools.

We tip our cyber hat to Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market for creating its "Shop for Schools" program and following the lead of the many retailers here before them who continue to raise money for schools. We believe retail promotions like Fresh & Easy's "Shop for Schools" that offer the grocer an opportunity to increase sales while at the same time give something back to communities are win-wins.

[Editor's Note: one thing we do at about this time each year is to make as much of a contribution as we can afford to one or more local schools. The end of the year, and before the start of a new one, seems a good time to do so -- thinking of new beginnings in terms of the new year reminds us of the new beginnings a good education can provide for a child. Although this is a tough year for donations, we encourage Fresh & Easy Buzz readers to join us in making whatever donation you can ($10 is even great) to your local schools.]