Company : Giant Food Stores, LLC
Program category : 2018

Origins:

Founded in 1923 as the Carlisle Meat Market, GIANT has grown to include more than 170 stores serving families in Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. Through this expansion and evolution of services such as Peapod online ordering, the company has proudly remained connected to its neighborhood roots and commitment to offering fresh, quality meats, produce, and grocery items to its customers. Part of our mission at GIANT is to be good neighbors to the communities where we work and serve. And it’s our amazing community partners, who do such incredible work on the front lines, who make this mission possible. Our commitment and partnerships focus on eradicating hunger, promoting healthy kids, fostering healthy families, and supporting our troops and their loved ones. After all, we’re part of the community, too. And we’ll continue to do our part simply because we can. And we should. In honor of GIANT’s 95th anniversary, we embarked on a year-long, multi-faceted, best-in-class campaign that engaged all audiences and celebrated and thanked all our partners with #oneGIANTthanks. We showcased our commitment to being a community supporter by having our associates out in the community volunteering and by awarding seven major gifts totaling more than $3 million. With our “Bag Hunger” and “Season of Sharing” programs, we were also able to donate more than $1.5 million to local food banks and community non-profits as well as activating our associates to volunteer.

Contribution:

The following contributions were made to honor our 95th anniversary and give one GIANT thanks to our community partners:
• Philabundance - $1,000,000
• Central PA Food Bank - $800,000
• Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia - $570,000
• Penn State Health Children’s Hospital - $280,000
• Second Harvest Food Bank - $216,000
• Janet Weis Children’s Hospital - $150,000
• Blue Ridge Area Food Bank - $120,000 2018 Bag Hunger initiative:
•Customers donated $1 at checkout and raised $1.5 million that was distributed to more than 100 food banks and food pantries across our footprint.
• Our associates also volunteered at several locations when the check was presented re-stocking shelves and sorting food donations. Season of Sharing initiative:
• Our associates donated $35,000 and provided hands on volunteer service to local nonprofits tied to our three main charitable focus areas. Examples include Salvation Army, Common Ground Café, and Hazelton Integration Project.

Objectives:

Our program objectives were to: • Help GIANT/MARTIN’S become the most admired grocery brand by positively influen
cing the behavior of our associates, customers, media, community partners and government leaders
•Grow brand awareness, engage our associates, and strengthen customer loyalty with compelling storytelling, associate volunteerism, and events that generate positive earned media
• Position GIANT/MARTIN’S as a grateful and humble leader in the community
•Donate a total of $3 million to food banks and children’s hospitals
• Generate one million social media impressions

Impact:

Highlights: • $1 million to Philabundance, the largest corporate gift they have received: used to support children’s programs, the Philabundance Community Kitchen culinary program for low-income adults, and the creation of an endowment. o Through “Meat the Needs,” we’ve donated almost 3 million pounds of meat to date. • $800,000 to Central PA Food Bank: largest single corporate grant the Food Bank has received; will help transform youth programs, source healthy food options and strengthen logistics. • $570,000 to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia supported the King of Prussia Urgent Care facility programs. • Penn State Children’s Hospital: $280,000 to support a 3D heart model printing program, which helps doctors better plan for complex heart surgeries, reduces surgery time, improves parent counseling, and enhances learning for our medical students. • Bag Hunger initiative: raised $1.5 million that was distributed to 100+ food banks/pantries across our footprint. • Season of Sharing initiative: our associates donated $35,000 and provided hands on volunteer service. Examples: o Salvation Army in Hagerstown, Md. (prepared and served food for MANNA Feeding Program), o Common Ground Café in Harrsiburg, Pa. (prepared and served brunch for 200 residents; provided games, crafts and book readings. o Hazelton Integration Project in Hazelton, Pa. (prepared and served food for annual Breakfast with Santa event). • LIBERTY USO: ongoing funding for operating expenses of Central PA base (Fort Indiantown Gap) that we helped build – the largest training facility in the country serving 85,000 service members; running care package drives; served on the Board of Trustees.

Quote:

Nicholas Bertram, President, GIANT Food Stores, LLC: "Supporting the community and giving back to the neighborhoods we serve, through financial support and volunteerism, has been a part of the GIANT culture for 95 years. Our teams of associates are passionate about serving their communities, both in and outside of our stores. There’s no better time than our 95th anniversary to reflect on our company’s success and express thanks to our associates, vendor partners, customers and communities, all of whom have made it possible for us to be here today. Our Community Partners are working to make a significant impact in our regions, and we are taking the opportunity of our 95th anniversary to thank them."

Support Statement:

Glenn Bergman, Executive Director, Philabundance on GIANT’s $1 million donation: "We are truly grateful to GIANT, a partner of Philabundance for almost 20 years. Not only do they provide funding for food for children facing hunger and for our Philabundance Community Kitchen program, but they also provide truck-full upon truck-full of rescued protein to help feed those in need. We are thrilled about this generous $1 million gift – the largest in our history! – as well as for the company’s new participation in our grocery program rescuing perfectly good quality food and providing it to those facing hunger in our communities. Without GIANT, Philabundance would not be able to serve 90,000 people each week."