ALDI, Amazon and Dollar General Discuss Their Neighborly Moves at Grocery Impact
Food retailers are integral parts of their communities, and this is reflected in their various charitable endeavors. During Progressive Grocer’s “Grocers as Good Neighbors” session at the publication’s Grocery Impact event taking place Nov. 6-8 in Orlando, Fla., Senior Editor Lynn Petrak spoke with Jason Schultz, manager sustainability at Batavia, Ill.-based ALDI US; Nancy Dalton, Director-Amazon Access at Seattle-based Amazon; and Eric Voyles, senior director of corporate responsibility and philanthropy at Dollar General, about their respective companies’ programs in this area and how these initiatives are making a difference locally. The session was introduced by Kristin Ploetz, customer success director at Minneapolis-based SPS Commerce.
Schultz spoke movingly of ALDI’s extensive work with Alex’s Lemonade Stand (ALSF), which raises funds to fight pediatric cancer. One ALSF program, SuperSibs, is dedicated to comforting, encouraging and empowering siblings of children with cancer, while another, Travel for Care, helps families with travel expenses for treatment. Among ALDI’s other charitable work is proactive and reactive disaster relief, which extends to performing welfare checks on associates in areas affected by hurricanes or other events. “It’s building up this idea that small actions can lead to meaningful change later on for families and communities,” noted Schultz.
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Dalton spotlighted Amazon’s work to alleviate food insecurity, particularly Amazon Access’ initiative to make SNAP available online for recipients without requiring a Prime membership, and partnerships with a network of partners to help consumers what constitutes a healthy plate of food, as well as with GENYOUth, an organization addressing student hunger. Additionally, Amazon offers Prime Access, a discounted Prime membership for eligible government assistance recipients or income-verified customers that’s 50% of the cost of a regular Prime membership. “I think that as we do [these kinds of programs], we get a lot more understanding of, hey, it’s not just about food – it starts with food – but what else can we offer to communities to lighten their load as well as address some of these other gaps?” she said.
Voyles laid out Dollar General’s focus on mind, body and planet through helping 20 million children and adults attain literacy to date; donating to food banks across the country; participating in reforestation efforts in the Gulf Coast, including the Mississippi Delta; and creating an assistance fund for employees dealing with the aftereffects of natural disasters. One particularly interesting planet-oriented Dollar General partnership is with Reinford Farm, a small Pennsylvania farm to which the retailer’s nearby Pottsville facility sends its milk waste to be converted into electricity after being recycled in an anaerobic digestor. “We’re always thinking of different ways to handle waste,” noted Voyles, who played a short video on this initiative.
All three retailers maintain partnerships with Feeding America, underscoring the Chicago-based organization’s ubiquity in the hunger relief space, as well as the natural fit of companies that sell food with groups that donate it to the needy. “Food insecurity is in … every county, in every congressional district in the country,” emphasized Schultz. “It hovers around 13% in any given area.”
In discussing ways to help low-income consumers solve their transportation and accessibility problems, Dalton observed, “I think it is really important that we keep our ear to the ground as consumers are telling us what they need, [and that we] find new and different ways to be creative to meet that need.”
As the session drew to a close, Ploetz exclaimed, “Our industry is doing amazing work in our communities.” ALDI, Amazon and Dollar General are among those proving her right.
