Corporate Responsibility

Carolina Panthers linebacker Jon Beason will team up with Southeast regional grocer Harris Teeter to present a tractor-trailer packed with items for a traditional Thanksgiving feast at Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina in Charlotte, N.C., on Nov. 15. Harris Teeter is donating enough food for Beason and Harris Teeter associates to put together 2,000 Thanksgiving dinner bags.

After the bags have been filled, Beason and Harris Teeter associates will stop off at the Boys & Girls Club Marsh Road to personally give some of them to needy kids and their families. Each bag will feed a family of four and contain cranberry sauce, corn, green beans, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, a 2-liter bottle of Coca-Cola, pie, rolls and ham.

“It is important for families to have dinners together to make a difference in the lives of their children,” noted Beason.

“This is another great example of the many ways in which Harris Teeter provides for those in need in our community,” added Kay Carter, executive director for Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, which will distribute bags to emergency pantries throughout its 19-county region before Thanksgiving. “As one of our largest donors, they have helped us feed tens of thousands of hungry people.”

Harris Teeter received food contributions for the bags from such vendors as Heineken USA, Treasury Wine Estates, New York Packaging, Coca-Cola Bottling Co. Consolidated, Ocean Spray, Del Monte, Bruce Foods, Mt. Olive, General Mills, Idahoan Foods, Jessie Lord Bakery, Kings Hawaiian, Kraft Foods, Cargill and Mrs. T's Pierogies.

In other Harris Teeter news, the grocer will offer an 11 percent discount to veterans and active-duty military members who shop at any of its stores on Veterans Day (Nov. 11) when they present their VIC cards, after all coupons and discounts have been deducted.

Other shows of support for military service members and their families by Harris Teeter include selling $1and $7 donation cards in May to raise money to buy Smiles Over Miles account cards that were placed at USO centers; raising awareness and money for Wounded Warrior Project; hosting the second annual Operation Homefront Thanksgiving Feast this Nov. 22, which will provide 400 military families at the Washington National Guard Armory with traditional holiday dinners; and being a major sponsor of USO.

A wholly owned subsidiary of Ruddick Corp., Matthews, N.C.-based Harris Teeter employs more than 24,000 associates and has 206 stores in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Georgia, Tennessee, Maryland, Delaware, Florida and the District of Columbia. Ruddick recently sold its other wholly owned subsidiary, American & Efird (A&E), a sewing thread and textile provider, to focus on opening more Harris Teeter locations.