IGA Retailers Unite for Wounded Warrior Project

A group of 125 IGA grocers serving communities in the western United States today announced that they have joined forces with other IGA independent retailers across the country and Wounded Warrior Project (TM) (WWP) for an IGA Exclusive Brand cause marketing event to raise money to help veterans injured in combat.

During this national campaign—which began Memorial Day Weekend and runs through Labor Day weekend--a number of WWP co-branded IGA Exclusive Brand products will be available for purchase.

"Our group of IGA retailers will use this IGA promotion to raise much-needed funding to help wounded service members with everything from physical health and wellness, counseling, family aid, and job assistance," said Dennis Darling, owner, Susanville IGA, Susanville, Calif..

By fall of this year, IGA plans to donate up to $200,000 to WWP.

In 2011, IGA retailers donated $120,000 to WWP; sales from specially marked cases of IGA exclusive brand water during the promotional period resulted in a $100,000 donation. Kraft Foods also contributed in IGA's name an additional $20,000 resulting from the sale of popular Kraft beverage mixes.

For 2012, the IGA stores will make available specially marked cases of IGA bottled spring and drinking water, WWP-branded IGA hotdog and hamburger buns, and Kraft Foods beverage mixes from MiO, Crystal Light, Kool-Aid and Country Time.

To help further the campaign's efforts, the group of 125 IGA stores (located in Alaska, California, Montana, Washington and Wyoming) will be selling WWP checkstand donation cards for $1 that shoppers can sign and have posted for everyone to see. As the stores' walls fill with donation cards, the retailers hope that awareness of the campaign and the WWP will continue to grow within their communities.

The Independent Grocers Alliance (IGA) is the world's largest voluntary supermarket network with aggregate worldwide retail sales of more than $29 billion per year. The Alliance includes more than 5,000 Hometown Proud Supermarkets worldwide, supported by 36 distribution companies and more than 50 major manufacturers, vendors and suppliers known as IGA's Red Oval Family partners. IGA has operations in 46 of the United States and more than 30 countries, commonwealths and territories.