For Immediate Release
Special Olympics Benefits from Safeway’s 2009 April Promotion to
Benefit People with Disabilities Which Raised $11.2 Million
Washington, DC – Special Olympics is pleased to announce that $11.2 million dollars was raised as a result of Safeway’s April 2009 Promotion to benefit individuals with disabilities in the United States, $2 million more than the total from 2008’s promotion. The donations will be distributed to Special Olympics and Easter Seals.
“We are thrilled that Safeway and its patrons donated so generously this year – especially with the tough economic time we faced at the beginning of the year,” said Timothy Shriver, Chairman and CEO of Special Olympics. “We are so grateful Safeway included us in this incredible promotion and so proud to be associated with one of the top employers of people with disabilities.”
Safeway organized in-store fundraising during the month of April staff rally customers to donate a dollar or more to benefit individuals with disabilities at the checkout stands. Throughout April, Safeway stores in 21 states, the District of Columbia and Canada worked with local Special Olympics Programs to raise awareness for the promotion.
With campaigns each April and August, Safeway said that over the years it has raised more than $121 million to support organizations and working with people with disabilities, including Easter Seals, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, Augie's Quest and Special Olympics. 2008 was the first year Special Olympics was included as an additional beneficiary in the Safeway’s company-wide in-store promotion.
“Our customers and employees deserve the real recognition for this extraordinary outcome,” said Larree Renda, Safeway Executive Vice President, Chief Strategist and Administrative Officer. “Thanks to their generosity we are making a real and measurable difference in the lives of people with disabilities.”
This year’s campaign began at the brand-new lifestyle store at City Vista in Washington D.C. with a celebrity bagging competition that included U.S. Olympic gold medalists Dominique Dawes and Carly Patterson, Congressman Steve Bartlett (Texas),Congressman Roy Blunt (Missouri.), and Ambassador Pete Romero. Michael Abraham, a Special Olympics athlete from Virginia and employee of Safeway, also spoke at the lunch to help kick-off the promotion.
The funds raised from Safeway’s April 2009 promotion will help Special Olympics continue to provide opportunities to millions of people with intellectual disabilities and build more inclusive and accepting communities worldwide.
Shriver added, “Safeway truly is helping us change the lives of people with intellectual disabilities, and more harmonious and accepting communities around the world.”
About Special Olympics
Special Olympics is an international organization that changes lives by encouraging and empowering people with intellectual disabilities, promoting acceptance for all, and fostering communities of understanding and respect worldwide. Founded in 1968 by Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the Special Olympics movement has grown from a few hundred athletes to nearly 3.1 million athletes in 175 countries in all regions of the world, providing year-round sports training, athletic competition and other related programs. Special Olympics now takes place every day, changing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities in places like China and from regions like the Middle East to the community playgrounds and ball fields in every small neighborhood. Special Olympics provides people with intellectual disabilities continuing opportunities to realize their potential, develop physical fitness, demonstrate courage and experience joy and friendship. Visit Special Olympics at www.specialolympics.org.
About Safeway
Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 50 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America, based on sales. The company operates 1,739 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual sales of $44.1 billion in 2008. The company’s common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY. Safeway supports a broad range of charitable and community programs and in 2008 donated more than $248 million to important causes, such as cancer research, education and hunger relief. Safeway is also one of the largest retail purchasers of wind energy, using 90,000 megawatt hours of wind energy, enough to power all 324 Safeway retail fuel stations, all stores in San Francisco, California and Boulder, Colorado, as well as all of the company headquarters and all corporate offices in Northern California. Safeway was the first major retailer to join the Chicago Climate Exchange, the world’s first and North America’s only legally binding GHG allowance trading system, and the California Climate Action Registry, which commits the company to reduce its carbon footprint by 6 percent from year 2000 levels. For more information about Safeway, visit http://www.safeway.com.
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