Home > Community Involvement
Mike Byron,
Vice President, Supplier Diversity, at Urban Ventures for an Earth Day cleanup event
Community Involvement
At the heart of SUPERVALU®’s charitable giving is the idea that being a good corporate citizen is an ongoing responsibility. By helping to create stronger communities, we enhance the quality of life for our customers and associates. SUPERVALU has a significant presence in dozens of communities and we strive to give to those organizations where we can do the most good.
Last year, SUPERVALU’s charitable giving across the company reached approximately $79 million. This total includes company donations, customer and associate fundraisers, and in-kind giving to charitable organizations nationwide. We are also proud of our volunteer programs through SUPERVALU Volunteers in Action (VIA). This program mobilizes associates in our operations across the company to donate time and energy to a variety of causes.
Here’s a look at just a few of the many ways SUPERVALU and our associates support the communities where we do business.
Fighting Hunger
All of SUPERVALU’s business units donate food to Feeding America, the nation’s leading domestic hunger relief organization. Through our national partnership with Feeding America, we donate millions of pounds of food each year to help end hunger in our communities. SUPERVALU associates also offer logistics support and expertise, and several sit on Feeding America’s local boards of directors.
The SUPERVALU Foundation also participates in the Food for All campaign, a national non-profit group whose mission is to help alleviate
hunger and malnutrition by fostering long-term, self-help solutions.
Health and Nutrition
As America’s Neighborhood Grocer, SUPERVALU believes it can positively influence the health of its communities through ongoing consumer education and support of community health initiatives. In several of SUPERVALU’s markets, our banner stores host nutrition tours for school-age children. These tours use fun and memorable activities to reinforce the nutrition lessons that are taught in the classroom.
SUPERVALU is also honored to support the American Heart Association’s Go Red for Women Campaign – a cause that brings attention to heart disease, which kills more than 480,000 women each year, about one per minute.
SUPERVALU executive vice president and chief financial officer Pam Knous chaired the 2007-2008 Twin Cities Go Red for Women Campaign. She led the charge to raise funds throughout the community to support local cardiovascular research, educational programs, and to inspire women to commit to a heart-healthy lifestyle. Under Pam Knous’ leadership, SUPERVALU was able to raise more than $1 million for the Twin Cities Go Red campaign.
Since 1924, the American Heart Association has helped protect people of all ages and ethnicities from the ravages of heart disease and stroke by raising money for research and public education campaigns. These diseases, the nation’s No. 1 and No. 3 killers, claim more than 930,000 American lives each year. In 2005, the American Heart Association awarded close to $2.4 million to research institutions in Minnesota. Nationwide, the American Heart Association invested $135 million for research last year and more than $1 billion over the last decade. Research funded by the American Heart Association has yielded important discoveries such as CPR, life-extending drugs, pacemakers and bypass surgery.
Environmental Stewardship
As one of the largest companies in the United States grocery channel, SUPERVALU is committed to preserving and protecting the environment. In addition to promoting customer involvement in the company’s recycling programs and further reducing energy usage in its stores and offices, the company’s environmental stewardship council, ValuEarth, studies, recommends and oversees ways in which the company can minimize its environmental footprint. The company is active in the Food Marketing Institute’s Sustainability Task Force and Energy and Technical Services Committee. The company also recently entered the EPA’s GreenChill Partnership, which pledged to promote green technologies, strategies and practices that protect the ozone layer and reduce greenhouse gases.
To help raise awareness of global sustainability issues, SUPERVALU supported the Will Steger Global Warming 101 Ellesmere Expedition, a 1,400-mile dogsled expedition across Ellesmere Island to raise awareness of global warming issues. The expedition, which began in March 2008, led six young explorers from four different countries – Norway, Great Britain, Canada and the United States – to document the impact of and inspire solutions to global warming. People from around the world were able to track the Ellesmere Island Expedition team on www.globalwarming101.com, which includes videos, images, podcasts and blog entries from team members.
United Way of America
SUPERVALU is proud to be a National Corporate Leader for United Way, holding annual campaigns in the company’s operations from coast to coast. In addition to an annual corporate donation, the company’s associates have raised millions of dollars for local United Way chapters.
United Way of America is the national organization dedicated to leading a network of nearly 1,300 local United Way organizations. Local United Ways create long-lasting community change by addressing the underlying causes of the most significant local issues. Common focus areas include helping children and youth achieve their potential, promoting financial stability and independence, and improving people’s health.
SUPERVALU is a sponsor of United Way’s Success By 6 program, an early childhood initiative that works to ensure that all children from birth to age 6 have the positive and enriching experiences necessary to begin school prepared to succeed. Through data tracking, advocacy, public awareness and neighborhood-based programs, Success By 6 collaborates with its partners to positively impact community indicators that lead to school readiness.