Minn. Grocers Assoc. Honors 'Bag Hunger' Winners

The Minnesota Grocers Association awarded six Silver Plate awards to winning retailer members participating in its statewide 2016 Bag Hunger Campaign contest, proceeds of which netted a $15,000 donation to Second Harvest Heartland, with an additional $11,000 donated to hunger relief partners across the state.

The winners of the Silver Plate Awards created in-store displays that best depicted the campaign’s theme to bag hunger that used a combination of in-store advertising and vendor products. Each winning company received $1,000 to donate to the food charity of its choice.

The Best Creative Partnership winners were Post Consumer Brands and Coborn’s, Sauk Rapids; and Post Consumer Brands and Super One Foods, Iron Range. The Best Overall Program Support winners were Chris’ Food Center, Sandstone; Cub Foods, Stillwater; and Kemps, St. Paul.

“The success of the Bag Hunger Campaign is driven by the exceptional efforts and generosity of our members, vendor partners, community food support agencies, and most significantly, Minnesota’s grocery customers,” said Jamie Pfuhl, president of  St. Paul, Minn.-based MGA. “The excitement and dedication demonstrated by all partners, participants, and community members is inspiring. We are proud to play a role in this collective effort to end hunger in Minnesota’s communities. Congratulations to our Silver Plate Award winners for their wonderfully creative, engaging, and effective efforts.”

Since 2008, participants in the MGA’s hunger campaign programs have provided more than 35 million meals to families in Minnesota. In the Bag Hunger campaign, participating stores and vendors offer multiple opportunities for consumers to contribute from donating grocery items to rounding up purchase totals to contributing the price difference to donating money.