By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent
The ongoing tsunami relief effort in South Asia has called upon the spirit of giving around the world. What is amounting to a global mission of mercy has resulted in billions of dollars that have already been donated from many countries to help the homeless and the injured.
The Jewish community has contributed $10 million from organizations both domestically and internationally, and the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle has raised over $70,000 to date.
Whether it is sitting down to write a check or participating in workplace donation programs, there are many opportunities to practice giving in our everyday lives that make a huge difference locally with relatively little effort.
Shopping for our own food is a chore most of us must do, but it is also a great time to think about others who need help. Many Seattle supermarkets have giving programs that are as simple as dropping a few pennies in a jar, adding a couple of dollars to your grocery bill, or signing up for a donation program that sets aside a percentage of every purchase you make.
The results are truly staggering.
Albertsons has a donation program that can make a huge difference for up to three organizations of your choice.
“The community partner card is available to all nonprofit organizations,” said John Gillespie, the store manager for Albertsons on Mercer Island. “When a nonprofit submits a letter and registers with Albertsons they get a card. Each person can attach (electronically) up to three organizations to their Preferred Card. Then, when they shop at any Albertsons, a percentage of their purchase is donated to the organizations of their choice.”
According to Gillespie, as the dollar value of an organization’s purchases increases, the percentage of donation increases. The donation amount ranges from 2 to 5 percent, depending on the amount of total purchases being made by the member group. Albertsons will donate up to $1,800 every three months and has a yearly limit of $7,200 per organization. It is paid by check to the designated recipient quarterly.
“We’ve been doing this for eight or nine years and we’re passionate about this,” added Gillespie. “Last year, Albertsons donated $150 million. We donated $30,000 just from my store. It’s fun and we really like doing it.
“In total, I have 96 organizations tied to my store,” said Gillespie. “Out of those, about 21 are Jewish organizations. We have schools and synagogues and four of these organizations have gotten to the maximum amount. So out of $30,000, roughly 25 percent, or $7,500, was donated to these organizations.”
Scrip programs
PCC, QFC and Safeway all carry scrip programs. When a nonprofit organization joins, they can buy scrip or gift cards from the store at a 5 percent discount. Scrip are then sold to and redeemed by their members for retail food purchases. By selling the gift cards to their membership for the full price, the member organization captures the 5 percent as profit.
The benefit of using this kind of program at a synagogue, community center or school is that the money stays within the organization and can be directly applied to specific projects.
“We make promotional materials available to groups that join so they can advertise in newsletters or display flyers,” said Roxanne Winship, community relations specialist at the PCC corporate offices located in Seattle’s University District.
Out of the more than 200 nonprofit groups that participate in their 5 percent scrip program, Winship says that 10 percent, or roughly 20 Jewish groups, participate. These include Jewish day schools, Jewish community centers and synagogues all over the Puget Sound.
Checkout giving
It really cannot be more convenient to give to others than when you are doing daily or weekly shopping chores. If giving directly and locally is the kind of donating that appeals to you, both PCC and Safeway have made it any easy and quick.
“We have a partnership with the Jewish Family Service Food Bank and seven other food banks,” said PCC’s Winship. “We ask for donations at our check stands. Then we purchase high quality bulk foods from Mountain Peoples, our supplier.”
Winship says there is a small can with an even smaller label that reads “Cash for the Hungry” located at every PCC check stand around the greater Seattle area. Shoppers can put money directly into the can and know that 100 percent of the money is going to one of the social service organizations that have joined their recipient list. And to make it even more convenient, just let the checker know how much you want to give and they will put your desired donation amount directly onto your food bill, right there.
“Then we have food bank packaging parties once every two months,” continued Winship. “We bag up somewhere between 1,200 and 1,500 pounds of food—things like oatmeal, rice, beans, raisins, and brown sugar.
Cherie Myers, the director of public and government affairs for the Northwest region of Safeway, which encompasses Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Montana, believes in her company’s canister checkout program. According to Myers, the pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters that are thrown into them, day after day, add up to an astounding amount.
“We donate $1 million a year from those canisters,” said Myers from her office in Bellevue. “Last year we donated $600,000 to prostate cancer, over $50,000 to ovarian cancer, $50,000 to breast cancer, $200,000 to Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center as well as hospitals in Alaska. I may not always be able to write a check for $25 or $50 but I can always put change in and it makes a huge difference.”
Monthly donation days
Instead of offering any formal programs, Whole Foods Market, Inc., in Seattle and Bellevue, donate 5 percent of their daily food sales to one of the organizations on their member list one day a month. The day varies from month to month so those wanting to participate need to check with the store or watch the WFM newsletter for the designated day.