Minnesota Grocers Recognize Hunger Relief Efforts

The Minnesota Grocers Association (MGA) recognized the Silver Plate Award winners of its 2011 Minnesota’s Own display contest, part of a larger campaign that informed Minnesotans about local hunger and provided over 5.8 million meals to Minnesota families through food drives and donations. The campaign was coordinated statewide by the MGA.

The campaign united more than 215 MGA retail members, 14 vendor partners and community food banks to fill local food shelves across the state. Participating stores and vendor locations offered multiple opportunities for consumers to contribute . Some stores encouraged customers to donate grocery items in-store or round up their purchase totals at the register, contributing the price difference to feed local families. Others prominently displayed the names of customers who donated money on grocery bag icons in their stores.

“The success of this unique statewide campaign needs to be credited to our members, vendor partners, community food support agencies and most significantly Minnesota’s grocery customers,” said Jamie Pfuhl, president of MGA. “We are so proud of what we have collectively accomplished in the fight to end hunger in our communities. Well done to our Silver Plate Award winners for their outstanding efforts.”

The winners of the Silver Plate Award created in-store displays that best depicted the “Fight to End Hunger” campaign and were required to use a combination of in-store advertising and vendor products.

In addition to the award, each winner will receive $1,000 to donate to the charity of its choice. Glen’s Food Center in Luverne and Malt-O-Meal in Plymouth won the retailer and vendor Silver Plate awards, respectively, for the Best Single Creative Display.

The Best Overall Program Support Silver Plate prize was awarded to companies that met the above requirements, as well as collaborated with other campaign participants. The retailer award in this category was presented to Teal’s Management in Paynesville and the vendor award went to FaribaultFoods of Faribault.

Four honorable mentions were awarded to retailers Festival Foods of Andover and Haug Enterprises of Coon Rapids, and vendors KEMPS of Saint Paul and Crystal Farms in Minnetonka.

The MGA is a state trade association with more than 200 retail members operating nearly 1,200 stores statewide, as well as 120 manufacturers and distributors.