Nation’s Leading Grocery Co-Ops Join Corporate Donors for Hurricane Harvey Relief

Nation's Leading Grocery Co-Ops Join Corporate Donors for Hurricane Harvey Relief
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The nation’s leading community-supported markets are lending aid to victims of Hurricane Harvey. National Co+op Grocers, a business services cooperative for community-supported retail food co-ops throughout the United States, announced Wednesday that it has joined other businesses nationwide in providing contributions to affected people, including delivering a truckload of essential supplies from United National Foods to the Houston Food Bank.

NGC has also designated an organization serving at-risk women and children in Beaumont, Texas, as the recipient of its annual holiday donation on behalf of its member co-ops. Beaumont is one of the hardest hit communities in the area.

“As cooperators, we have chosen to use our collective strength to assist those affected by the storm,” Robynn Shrader, Chief Executive Officer, NCG, said in a press release. “We extend our deepest sympathy to those affected by this devastation.”

NGC member co-ops have also pledged to continue offering support to victims of Hurricane Harvey in the coming weeks by collecting cash donations and earmarking them for organizations such as Feeding Texas and the Cooperative Development Fund.

NCG joins other businesses in contributing to Hurricane Harvey disaster relief, including Walmart, which has pledged up to $20 million in cash, products, and matching donations, and Amazon and Whole Foods, which matched $1 million in cash donations made on Amazon.com to the Red Cross.

“The corporate response thus far [has] been strong,” Marc DeCourcey, senior vice president of the Chamber of Commerce Foundation, told CNNMoney.

Companies have also provided donations of water and food, including Campbell Soup Company, which is donating food products in addition to its $50,000 contribution to the Red Cross and United Way of Greater Houston, and General Mills, which is sending more than $500,000 in food donations such as Yoplait and Nature Valley products.

Ahold USA and its brands, including Stop & Shop, also announced donations comprising $175,000 in cash donations and $75,000 in food and supplies for victims of Hurricane Harvey; the company also made a $250,000 donation to victims of Hurricane Irma.

“The bottom line is companies have embraced their civic duty to respond to disasters in ways that transcend check writing,” Mark Shamley, the president and CEO of the Association of Corporate Citizenship Professionals, told CNNMoney.

Hurricane Harvey expected to cause billions of dollars’ worth of damages.

[Note: This article was updated on September 15, 2017 to reflect an additional donation from Ahold USA to support victims of Hurricane Irma.]

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Emily Monaco is a food and culture writer based in Paris. Her work has been featured in the Wall ... More about Emily Monaco
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