Wegmans Helps Troops Find Homes

A recent community outreach initiative and in-store ground beef promotion at Wegmans Food Markets created public awareness and provided sponsorship support for Homes for Our Troops, a nonprofit organization that raises funds and organizes the construction of custom-built, fully accessible homes for injured veterans. Wegmans’ involvement in the promotion, which ran from Aug. 4 through Sept. 28, raised $10,000 for Homes for Our Troops.

During the “Help a Hero Come Home” initiative, a partnership with Cargill’s beef business, Wegmans offered specially marked packages of ground beef and displayed point-of-sale Homes for Our Troops materials, including posters, signage, a shelf talker and a coupon.

The promotion was part of a broader year-long Cargill Beef initiative, introduced last June, in which the supplier donated funds to help Taunton, Mass.-based Homes for our Troops provide homes for returning injured vets. The effort featured in-store awareness, burger-grilling events and other retailer support throughout the United States. Funds donated are going toward materials and labor to build homes for qualifying injured vets at no cost.

“Those who serve our country make tremendous sacrifices, and Wegmans and our customers passionately respect and value these heroes,” said Linda Lovejoy, community relations manager at the Rochester, N.Y.-based grocer. “Homes for Our Troops provides a special and very important service to those veterans injured in the line of duty.”

“These deserving military heroes gave so much serving our country, and it feels good to be able to help provide them with a place, built specially for their needs, that they can call home for themselves and their families,” added Katie Blick-White, associate brand manager for Minneapolis-based Cargill Beef.

Family-owned Wegmans operates 83 stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts.