Area Supermarket Chain Delivers Red Cross Donations, Starts on Next Campaign
By Mark Abrams
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- A locally based supermarket chain today delivered a healthy check to the Southeastern Pennsylvania chapter of the American Red Cross to help replenish its disaster relief fund.
Patrick Burns, president and CEO of the Fresh Grocer supermarkets, handed the mock check to Renee Cardwell Hughes, the Red Cross chapter CEO, during a brief ceremony inside the Fresh Grocer store in the 5600 block of Chestnut Street, in West Philadelphia.
"We went through the month of March for the victims of Sandy relief through the Red Cross, so we raised over $15,000 in our eight supermarkets in the tri-state area," says Burns, who notes that the money was donated by both customers and employees.
Hughes says the donation comes at the right time for the Red Cross.
"It's a huge shot in the arm," she says, "because what it allows us to do is to know that we can address the needs of the families who have been so devastated."
Burns says Fresh Grocer is now focusing attention on raising funds for the victims of the Oklahoma tornado, and has launched a Red Cross relief campaign in all of its stores in the region.
