Haggen Ups Community Outreach Efforts

Haggen plans to donate more than 45,000 pounds of apples to two local food banks to help feed the hungry in the grocer's local communities.

The donation, which is part of FirstFruits Marketing of Washington's "Take a Bite Out of Hunger" campaign, takes place today at Northwest Harvest in Snohomish, Wash., and April 1 at Oregon Food Bank in Oregon City.

“Take a Bite Out of Hunger is a great way to provide fresh produce to our local food banks, something that is often lacking on their shelves,” said Clement Stevens, SVP of merchandising and marketing at Haggen. “This program nourishes people in need by donating fresh and healthy apples in the communities where we work and live.”

Since the Take a Bite Out of Hunger program began in 2010, more than 1 million pounds of apples have been donated by participating retailers.

Haggen is furthering its community outreach during the process of converting its recently acquired stores from the Albertsons-Safeway merger. For each store conversion, the grocer is donating $1,000 to an organization on the first day each store opens. Additionally, in the weeks following the conversions, Haggen will partner with four local non-profits and donate 2 percent of sales to four additional organizations on four consecutive Saturdays.

“We have a long history of giving back to the communities we serve. We want to demonstrate that commitment both in our new stores as well as our existing stores," said Haggen CEO of the Pacific Northwest John Clougher.

Bellingham, Wash.-based Haggen currently operates stores in Washington and Oregon.