Raley's Raises Funds for State Parks with Reusable Bags

Raley's Supermarkets will donate five cents for every reusable grocery bag shoppers use in any of its northern California supermarkets.

The monies raised through Raley’s “NickelAid” campaign will be used to help fund efforts to keep the parks open that are currently on the closure list, beginning with the Governor’s Mansion State Historic Park in Sacramento. In addition to absorbing all administrative costs related to the program, the regional retailer has also committed up to $75,000 to California State Parks and up to $25,000 to Nevada State Parks for the 2011-2012 fiscal year.

“Northern California and Nevada have been Raley’s home for more than 75 years so we know how important our State Parks are to our customers and to our employees,” said Mike Teel, president/CEO of Raley’s Family of Fine Stores. “Our company has a long history of giving so when we learned that nearly one quarter of California’s State Parks is slated for closure, we immediately explored a way for Raley’s to help.” The NickelAid campaign,” Teel continued, “is a small but important first step in helping our State Parks address this huge financial challenge.”

Earlier this year, California State Parks announced that it must close up to 70 of its 278 parks to achieve an $11 million budget cut in the 2011/12 fiscal year and an additional $22 million in the following 2012/13 fiscal year.

“We thank Raley’s for their partnership and for this innovative solution to help raise funds for California State Parks,” said Ruth Coleman, director of California State Parks, who added that she is hopeful that “other businesses and individuals follow Raley’s lead and join this effort to help save our State Parks.”

In addition to the financial contribution, Raley’s will aggressively promote the fundraising campaign in-store, as well as on its website and at the checkout lane of its 133 Raley's, Bel Air, Nob Hill and Food Source banners stores located from California’s Central Coast to Elko, Nevada and north to the Oregon border.

Teel anticipates that NickelAid “will be a great success because so many of our customers...already reuse their shopping bags...because they care about the environment and are looking for ways they can make a difference. With this campaign, recycling is rewarded with financial support for our treasured state parks.”

For more information, visit www.raleys.com/nickelaid.