The National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS) and the American Red Cross are teaming up to advance community giving and disaster relief programs for NACS member companies. NACS is the first retail-focused association to partner with the American Red Cross on such a program.
The groups are focusing on developing resources to facilitate donation collection by convenience store companies nationwide, as well as encouraging volunteer assistance programs for Red Cross volunteers around specific local or national events.
Convenience stores contribute nearly $1 billion annually to charitable organizations. Four in five convenience store companies (80 percent) say they’ve made donations when there was a specific emergency or crisis in the community, according to a 2016 NACS member survey.
The announcement of the partnership is aligned with the Atlantic hurricane season, which began June 1. The Red Cross responds to nearly 64,000 disasters each year, most of which are home fires, and deploys volunteer disaster relief workers to support the efforts. Donations are crucial to the success of its missions, and NACS will work closely with its members to help the Red Cross achieve its goals, according to the association.
“NACS and the American Red Cross are closely aligned in how they make a meaningful difference in communities. Convenience stores are in every community in the country and they often are the only retailer open in times of episodic events. This agreement, developed through our NACS Foundation, will help advance the existing programs in which convenience stores provide immediate access to donations as well as food, fuel and beverages for volunteers,” said NACS President & CEO Henry D’Amour.
“We’re extremely excited to partner with NACS and its members as they work with us to provide help and hope to people impacted by disasters,” said Don Herring, chief development officer at the American Red Cross. “Donations through their network of convenience stores and customers will allow the Red Cross to deploy volunteers, respond immediately with food and shelter during a disaster, as well as support disaster survivors through the recovery process.”
