Bi-Lo/Winn-Dixie Shoppers Raise Funds to Fight Breast Cancer

Customers of Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie raised $261,705.60 and $194,114.57, respectively, for Susan G. Komen during a month-long campaign running from Sept. 18 through Oct. 22. The grocery chains' Community Donation Program enabled shoppers to donate at any store register.

The Bi-Lo funds will be distributed to six Komen affiliates in Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, while the Winn-Dixie contributions will go to 14 Komen affiliates in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi. The affiliates provide education, screening, and financial and social support to those with breast cancer, in addition to funding for cancer research.

“This program demonstrates what community really means – people coming together to help their friends and neighbors in need,” said Mary Kellmanson, Bi-Lo/Winn-Dixie’s SVP of marketing. “This partnership with Komen helped educate and raise awareness about this disease and gave our customers a way of supporting the families in our communities that are battling breast cancer.”

“[T]hanks to the generosity of [Bi-Lo/Winn-Dixie] customers, our affiliates across the Southeast will be able to touch the lives of more women and men facing breast cancer,” added Dr. Judy Salerno, president and CEO of Dallas-based Komen, the world’s largest breast cancer organization. “Partners like Bi-Lo Holdings help us make an even greater impact in local communities and in research that will end this disease.”

Jacksonville, Fla.-based Bi-Lo Holdings LLC, the parent company of Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie grocery stores, employs nearly 60,000 associates in 686 grocery stores and 482 in-store pharmacies throughout Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.