One More Week!
At the end of week four, 66,073 shoppers have rounded up, raising $35,268! Continue to Round Up! through January 3, and we can raise over $40,000 for the IFC and OCIM.
We’re launching our first Round Up! food campaign over the holidays. We’re asking shoppers to Round Up! their total purchases, to provide fresh winter produce to our community food banks. Rounding Up is simple. Customers “round up” their total bill to the nearest dollar to easily donate to our community food programs.
Round up campaigns are a sustainable option for food campaigns; they’re about making a big impact with small donations that anyone can make. Seward Community Co-op in Minneapolis has an ongoing round up campaign that has raised more than $1 million in four years, with an average $23,000 per month. For our first campaign, we’re asking shoppers to round up for the holidays: Wednesday, November 30 through Tuesday, January 3.
Who are our “Neighbors in Need”?
The food banks in Orange County provide emergency food assistance for families in crisis, including unemployment, death in the family, and illness. In 2015, Interfaith Council (IFC) and Orange Congregations in Mission (OCIM) provided 28,500 bags of groceries for 5,500 households. Food donations to OCIM and IFC are predominantly non-perishable products—soup, tuna, crackers, and cans of vegetables, beans, and fruit. Acquiring fresh produce is one of the food banks’ greatest challenges. WSM will source at cost fresh winter vegetables and fruit with the Round Up! funds that shoppers donate. We will also provide simple recipes with the produce.
Read more about the IFC here. Read more about OCIM here.
How to participate
You can Round Up! each time you shop. We’re encouraging shoppers to commit to Rounding Up through January 3; you can hang an “I’m Rounding Up” card on the clotheslines in our stores, and take a sticker. Look for Round Up! signs near the types of produce we’ll be donating, and stop by the first weekend of December to chat with food bank volunteers and our demo staff, who’ll be sampling dishes made with fresh winter vegetables and fruits.
Get ready to Round Up!