Smart & Final Tackles Food Insecurity
In a year when food insecurity has skyrocketed, Smart & Final is bringing back support of its popular PastaThon fundraiser.
The grocery discounter is offering shoppers at any Smart & Final or Smart & Final Extra! store the opportunity to make a donation at the register during checkout. From now until Dec. 4, for every $10 donated, Smart & Final and Barilla will provide pasta, sauce, forks, bowls and to-go containers to Caterina’s Club, a nonprofit that provides warm meals, affordable housing assistance and job training to homeless and low-income families throughout Southern California.
“2020 may have brought a lot of challenges, but it has also shown us a whole new level of generosity, with record fundraising in all of our in-store charitable efforts this year,” said Deb Bell-Versluis, director, corporate communications and Charitable Foundation at Smart & Final. “Hunger relief is a top priority for the Smart & Final Charitable Foundation, and we are honored to continue supporting Caterina’s Club to keep warm meals available to kids in need, even if through curbside pickup these days.”
This year, Smart & Final's 10th annual KFI PastaThon has been expanded from a one-day in-person event to a week of live virtual events taking place from Dec. 1-4.
In 2019, Smart & Final supported the KFI PastaThon with a record total of $85,000 in product and donations. This included 5,500 $10 bag donations received in Smart & Final stores, plus an additional $30,000 comprising in-store cash donations and a check from the Smart & Final Charitable Foundation. In total, the ninth annual KFI PastaThon, supported by Smart & Final and Barilla Pasta, raised a new record of more than $435,000 in cash and 109,000 pounds of pasta to benefit Caterina’s Club.
Last year, the grocer's foundation raised $1.8 million to support nearly 3,000 causes with the help of Smart & Final customers and store associates.
Commerce, California-based Smart & Final operates 256 locations, including larger-format stores under the Smart & Final Extra! banner that combine a warehouse-store format with traditional grocery offerings. All of the chain’s stores sell groceries and household essentials in both bulk and individual sizes without a membership fee. The company is No. 57 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer's list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America.
