Plain and Simple: Kroger Does It All

The Kroger Co. has a remarkable reputation when it comes to community relations. Kroger’s core values are honesty, integrity, respect, diversity, safety, and inclusion- all of which are very apparent through the company’s relationships with other various organizations. Kroger’s reputation is simply that they care not only about their customers, but about all members of the community. Their involvement with associations such as Feeding America, Giving Hope a Hand, Neighbor to Neighbor, The Salvation Army, and Everyone Wins, all clearly show Kroger’s genuine concern for the well-being of the community as a whole.

Kroger is proud to be one of the founding members of Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization. Over the past 5 years, Kroger has donated 139 million pounds of food (at roughly $214 million) to this foundation. What is so great about Kroger’s involvement with Feeding America is that it is not all about the money, it is also very much about volunteerism. Many executives, senior managers, and associates donate their time to local food banks and some are even members of the food bank boards. Kroger provides grants to these local food banks (to help purchase trucks, refrigeration equipment, new computers, etc). To accompany the effort that The Kroger Co. puts in to assist existing organizations, they also go beyond the call of duty by launching their own campaigns within organizations. Bringing Hope to the Table was launched in 2006, and has already directed $9 million in funds and $3 million in product to Feeding America food banks across the country. Kroger also has a company-wide food rescue program which is affiliated with Perishable Donation Partnership. This allows fresh food to go directly from Kroger to the food bank. This program is expected to generate 30 million pounds of additional food. Kroger has invested $3 million to breast cancer awareness, treatment, and research through the Giving Hope a Hand organization. All of the funds are spent in communities where customers and associates live and work. Thousands of Kroger associates volunteer and participate in fundraising events including Susan G. Komen For the Cure’s Race for the Cure, the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer program, and the Walk to Empower. Funds that are raised by the Giving Hope a Hand campaign support research projects, fund mammograms and educational outreach, and assist local support groups for women and families, among many other things.

Through the “Neighbor to Neighbor” program, Kroger has helped support 30,000 schools, hunger relief organizations, youth programs, and non-profit organizations. The key areas include hunger relief, k-12 education, grassroots service organizations, women’s health, advancement of women and minorities, The Salvation Army, and the American Red Cross. 729,000 schools, clubs, churches, synagogues, and other non-profit organizations earned funds through discounted gift certificate and rebate programs in all retail divisions. Neighbor to Neighbor is the largest community activity, contributing more than $30 million in 2006.

Kroger helps The Salvation Army with their annual Red Kettle campaign by allowing members of The Salvation Army to stand outside all Kroger stores in December with their bells and red kettles. Kroger has also set up a way which allows customers to make contributions to this campaign online. Among many other things, The Salvation Army is known for feeding hungry families, providing holiday toys for needy children, offering coats to the homeless, and assisting communities during natural disasters.

Everyone Wins is a scholarship program which helps local families pay tuition. The money spent in Kroger stores by campaign supporters is tracked through gift cards and sent to organizations (schools, churches, etc.) at each $5,000 mark. Organizations receive Kroger gift cards each marked with a different UPC. These gift cards are then given to families who wish to participate in the Everyone Wins program. Families then put money on the gift card, and each time they use it, the amount spent is tracked and sent to the organization’s account. Upon receiving the money, the organization also receives a statement of how much money was spent by each participating family. Finally, instead of putting the money in a general fund, these organizations (usually schools) directly credit the tuition account of that family. Everyone Wins is set up and run uniquely by The Kroger Co. This is a great program because it helps take some of the stress of paying high tuition off of the family and allows more families the chance to offer higher education to their children.

Over the past 10 years, Kroger has contributed over $1 billion to communities across the country. The company focuses on community service and giving back not only through check writing but through hands-on volunteering. Kroger’s community relations program has done an outstanding job of enhancing their reputation by providing complete supports to the company’s mission which is “to be a leader in the distribution and merchandising of food, pharmacy, health and personal care items, seasonal merchandise, and related products and services.” Through the company's support and service of ALL members of the community (regardless of any and all restricting circumstances) the public is able to easily make a connection between their good values and a great place to invest their timee and their money. The Kroger Co. is a superstore and a superhero.

Kroger Shows Compassion

Big corporations like Kroger are great at tugging on the heart strings of its customers. Kroger's "Fill Your Cart with Hope" campaign is just one of those things you can't ignore. Whether you're checking out the company's website or shopping for dog food, Kroger has you thinking about breast cancer awareness. The corporation has put together an enormous campaign which offers money to breast cancer research with the help of consumers. Need to wash your family's clothes? Purchase Arm & Hammer detergent, you can clean your clothes while helping increase breast cancer awareness and research. When people see that the stores they shop at care about breast cancer awareness, that makes them care too.

The website and stores have done a great job of getting this campaign out in the open. The first thing you see after typing www.kroger.com is a big pink box which offers a small amount of information regarding the campaign. For a more extensive explanation, viewers simply click a link that says "view participating products."

The PR people at Kroger are simply genius. Yeah, yeah, it's PR how hard can it be? VERY. These are the people who control whether or not something is interesting and eye-catching. Do I want to spend more time learning about the "Fill Your Cart with Hope" campaign? Yeah, I do because I'm helping someone else while I'm helping myself. See, I can do two things at once.

The only thing I would consider changing about the look of the website is that I would make the entire homepage about the campaign. I would make it so in order to get to the regular website you would have to click an assigned link on the page that redirects you. If I worked for Kroger I would make this a huge deal. After all, it IS a huge deal. Maybe there is not enough awareness about "Fill Your Cart with Hope." Sure there's a box on the homepage, but maybe customers don't even look at that part of the site, maybe they immediately scroll down to the bottom for coupons and special offers. I think Kroger should be a little more..loud..about the campagin without turning it into something obnoxious that people aim to avoid.