IGA has donated $265,000 to Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) as a result of the second annual IGA Exclusive Brand national marketing initiative that ran in participating IGA stores from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day weekend this year.
During the promotional period, IGA donated a portion of the proceeds from the sale of IGA Exclusive Brand water, hotdog and hamburger buns featuring specially marked WWP packaging, resulting in more than $171,000 of the donation.
Kraft contributed in IGA’s name an additional $50,000 donated in exchange for the positioning of beverage mix displays featuring Crystal Light, Kool-Aid, Country Time and MiO liquid water enhancers in IGA stores during the promotional period. IGA retailers’ own fundraising efforts and the IGA WWP Golf Tournament held in the summer made up for the remaining amount of nearly $45,000. This is an increase of more than $145,000 dollars from the $120,000 donation made in 2011.
IGA retailers promoted the WWP initiative in their stores in a number of ways, including, creating innovative in-store displays, matching donations and hosting community events honoring Wounded Warriors. Visit www.iga.com for examples.
“We were overwhelmed with the support our independent IGA retailers gave this Wounded Warrior Project event,” said Dave Bennett, IGA SVP of procurement and exclusive brands. “All across the country we saw IGA retailers participating by not only selling IGA exclusive brand water and Kraft beverage mixes, but also by using community events to get the word out about the important mission of Wounded Warrior Project. We’re extremely proud of our IGA retailers for embracing this initiative so enthusiastically for the second year in a row, and very pleased that by working with Kraft we were able to donate much needed funds to help our nation’s wounded service members.”
Kraft, a longtime IGA Red Oval Family member, is one of a number of key CPG companies that partners with IGA throughout the year to provide marketing resources and opportunities to IGA’s independent retailers. Kraft’s Customer Business Leader Jim Tanasse said that his company was proud to be involved in a campaign that enabled Kraft, IGA’s independent retailers and IGA shoppers to join together to support a worthy national cause.
According to WWP, more than 50,000 servicemen and women have been injured in the recent military conflicts. In addition to the physical wounds, it is estimated as many as 400,000 service members live with the invisible wounds of war including combat-related stress, major depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Another 320,000 are believed to have experienced a traumatic brain injury while on deployment.
Tens of thousands of Wounded Warriors and caregivers receive support each year through WWP’s 18 diverse programs and services that are uniquely structured to nurture the mind and body, and encourage economic empowerment and engagement.
