IGA has joined forces again with Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) in its third annual IGA Exclusive Brand donation initiative. During this national campaign—running in participating IGA stores from Memorial Day weekend (May 27) through Labor Day weekend (Sept. 3)—a number of WWP co-branded IGA Exclusive Brand products will be available for purchase in participating IGA stores. By fall of this year, IGA plans to donate up to $200,000 to WWP.
For 2013, IGA will again make available specially marked cases of WWP-branded IGA bottled spring and drinking water, as well as WWP-branded IGA hot dog and hamburger buns. New for 2013, IGA also has added WWP-branded IGA ice cream.
As in years past, IGA Red Oval Partner Kraft Foods Group will be joining in with a contribution from displays placed in IGA stores. Kraft-featured beverage enhancers include MiO, Crystal Light and Kool-Aid and, new through a partnership with Hershey and Nabisco, IGA retailers also will be offered S’mores shippers.
“Over the past two years we have been overwhelmed with the support our independent IGA retailers and their IGA shoppers gave this WWP event, and we are extremely pleased to have the opportunity to work with our IGA retailers, licensed distribution center partners, Exclusive Brand suppliers and Red Oval Partners Kraft Foods Group, Nabisco and Hershey to raise funds and awareness for WWP again in 2013,” said Dave Bennett, IGA SVP of procurement and Exclusive Brands. “We look forward to seeing how IGA’s innovative retailers will use this event to benefit WWP’s important mission to honor and empower our nation’s wounded service members.”
More than $385,000 has been donated to Wounded Warrior Project in the name of IGA retailers since 2011.
According to WWP, nearly 50,000 of the nation’s servicemen and women have been physically wounded during the current military conflicts, with hundreds of thousands more estimated to be recovering from post-traumatic stress disorder, major depression and brain injuries. WWP assists injured service members and their families through a holistic approach to their recovery, providing programs and services to aid their physical rehabilitation and improving their mental health and wellbeing.
The Independent Grocers Alliance (IGA) is the world’s largest voluntary supermarket network with aggregate worldwide retail sales of more than $31 billion per year. The Alliance includes more than 5,000 Hometown Proud Supermarkets worldwide, supported by 36 distribution companies and more than 50 major manufacturers, vendors and suppliers known as IGA’s Red Oval Family partners. IGA has operations in 46 of the United States and more than 30 countries, commonwealths and territories.
