Employees of Kansas City, Kansas-based Associated Wholesale Grocers Inc. (AWG) are providing Disaster Relief Grants of $1,000 each to 10 organizations representing each of the communities where AWG and its subsidiary Valu Merchandisers Company (VMC) have a distribution center. AWG employees are presenting these grants to organizations that are helping with COVID-19 relief.
The money was donated by AWG and VMC employees in each of its 10 distribution centers, with matches by AWG, through the AWG Cares Employee Charitable Foundation.
Now in its third year, AWG Cares is a company-supported, employee-managed and community-focused non-profit charitable organization. Its purpose is to help AWG and subsidiary employees support the charities they care about and to give back to the communities where employees work and live. The three main areas of focus are disaster relief, medical research and hunger/homeless concerns.
A 12-person company-wide employee advisory committee leads AWG Cares. The group helped to select the organizations and submit the grant requests in time for the #GivingTuesdayNow, a global action day of giving and unity in response to COVID-19 on May 5.
“As a new member of the AWG Cares Advisory Committee, I’m so proud to see the impact my fellow employees are making in their communities through donations and grant awards,” said Cara Finger, AWG Cares chair. “AWG Cares empowers every employee to support the charities they are passionate about and, in using the spirit of the co-op, makes our donations go even further with matching contributions and grant requests.”
AWG Cares also is promoting blood donations as a service to their communities. Several company blood drives and service events were canceled due to stay-at-home orders, so employees are encouraging each other to give individually.
“The current COVID-19 situation has forced us to get creative in the ways we promote the mission and engage in service initiatives of AWG Cares,” added Finger. “Our employees are stepping up to the plate with additional support for AWG Cares and their communities.”
AWG is the nation’s largest cooperative food wholesaler to independently owned supermarkets, serving more than 1,000 member companies and over 3,000 locations throughout 28 states from eight full-line wholesale divisions. The consolidated sales for AWG are approximately $9.7 billion. In addition to its cooperative wholesale operations, the company operates subsidiary companies. Those provide related real estate and supermarket development services, print and digital marketing services, and health and beauty care, general merchandise, pharmaceutical, specialty foods, and natural and organic
products.
