Meijer Customers Gave Generously During Simply Give Week to Support Hungry Families in the Midwest

Donations for the week exceed $145,000

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Sep 12, 2012, 05:00 ET

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Sept. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Meijer customers generously donated $145,800 throughout Simply Give Week to help food pantries throughout the Midwest restock their shelves. That effort, combined with the commitment from Meijer to double all donations made Sept. 2-8, means the week's total donation climbed to $437,400, Co-Chairman Hank Meijer announced today.

"We were hoping Simply Give Week would generate excitement to help support our food pantry partners, and our customers and team members supported us in a big way," Meijer said. "This week's donation far surpassed our single most successful week of $60,000 in donations. The great generosity of our customers and team members is a source of inspiration for all of us. We cannot thank them enough."

Meijer launched Simply Give Week to support Hunger Action Month in September and highlight its continuing commitment to hunger relief.

"This is a huge win for our food pantry partners, who aggressively engaged the community to help every $10 donation stretch even farther," said Janet Emerson, executive vice president of retail operations. "It's very rewarding to work with so many food pantries whose dedication to food-giving is unwavering."

Although the double match has concluded, customers can still donate to the fall Simply Give campaign, which runs through Oct. 6.

The Simply Give program encourages customers to purchase $10 Meijer Food Pantry donation cards, which are then converted into Meijer gift cards and given to the local food pantry selected by the store. The program aims to replenish the shelves of nearly 200 food pantries in the retailer's five-state region each campaign.

Traditionally, Meijer seeds each Simply Give campaign with $100,000 in grocery gift cards that are divided among all the participating food pantries. This year, the retailer will contribute $1 million, which equates to 6 million meals, and will bring the program's total contributions to more than $4 million – or an estimated 24 million meals – since it debuted in November 2008.

Meijer donates more than 6 percent of its net profits each year to a variety of charitable organizations, including food pantries through Simply Give. The Simply Give program runs three times each year for approximately 10 weeks.

About Meijer: Meijer is a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based retailer that operates 199 supercenters and grocery stores throughout Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Kentucky. As a pioneer of the "one-stop shopping" concept, Meijer stores have evolved through the years to include expanded fresh produce and meat departments, as well as pharmacies, comprehensive electronics departments, garden centers and apparel offerings. Additional information on Meijer and the ability to shop for more can be found at www.meijer.com. Follow Meijer on Twitter @twitter.com/Meijer or become a fan at www.facebook.com/meijer.

SOURCE Meijer