Nash Finch, Hugo's Team Up for Literacy
Nash Finch Co. and Hugo’s Family Marketplace have donated $20,000 to support fundraising efforts in Jamestown, N.D., for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.
“We at Nash Finch and Hugo’s are so proud to be able to support the already tremendous fundraising efforts Jamestown has initiated to support the Imagination Library,” said Alec Covington, Nash Finch CEO. “This important program is vital to the current and future health of the community and aligns with our values and hopes for the generations to come.”
Covington presented an oversized check of $20,000 to the Jamestown Public School Foundation under a giant 800-balloon archway, which symbolized the approximate number of Jamestown public preschoolers now able to enroll in the Imagination Library program because of the Nash Finch and Hugo’s donation.
“It’s always exciting and very rewarding when you can do something that has an impact in the community you serve. We feel so privileged to be part of Jamestown and offer this assistance to the local school system,” said Kristi Magnuson, president of Hugo’s.
The promotion of early literacy is a target area for the Jamestown School District, said Robert Lech, Jamestown superintendent of schools. “Our hope is that, through the Imagination Library, we can encourage parents to read to their children and help to instill a lifelong love for literacy. Imagination Library is an initiative that we are very passionate about and would be much less successful without this donation from Nash Finch.”
Nash Finch, the second largest U.S. wholesale food distributor to retail grocery stores, including Hugo’s Marketplace, has been dedicated to supporting education funding in local communities for many years with the Our Family Labels for Learning program.
“Our Labels for Learning program can further supplement this fundraising effort for Imagination Library and together we can advance educational opportunities for students in our local schools," Covington said.
Imagination Library is sponsored nationally by the Dolly Parton Foundation and was recently brought to Jamestown by The Jamestown Public School Foundation in May 2013. Every child enrolled in the program receives an age-appropriate book each month for one year at no cost to the parents.
Hugo's Family Marketplace is a family-owned and -operated chain of grocery stores with 10 locations across North Dakota and Minnesota.
Minneapolis-based Nash-Finch's core businesses include distributing food to military commissaries and retailers located in 44 states, the District of Columbia, Europe, Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Azores, Bahrain and Egypt. The company also owns and operates a base of retail stores, primarily supermarkets under the Family Fresh Market, Econofoods, Family Thrift Center, No Frills, Bag 'n Save, Avanza and Sun Mart trade names.