Want to do a little bit of community service
and still make a big difference?
Just stand here ... quietly.
Randy, the
assistant manager at the Sprouts
on Oracle was about to walk by the display table when I stopped him. “It’s
amazing, all I do is just stand here and people drop off their donations. I
don’t say a thing. One older lady, maybe in her late 80’s, slowly walked up and
dropped $10 in the wicker basket.”
Randy smiled, turned and walked away. I just needed to
tell someone and he knew it. Even thought I have been doing this kind of
community service for several years now, I am still amused by the small effort I
have to exert to collect so much food. The marketer in me thinks I should have
to jump through many more hoops to entice folks to participate. They just read
the sign and reach into their pocket or cart.
At the end of my 4-hour shift on Wednesday I quickly
packed up and headed for my truck in the parking lot right outside the door. As
I hoisted the first few bags of food from the shopping cart into the truck bed I
noticed a large, stuffed bag that was shoved up against the cab. On top sat a
smaller bag with a pair of child’s slippers inside.
When I found Richard
Rodriguez, the store manager, he was seated in his office. “Look at
all this stuff I found in my truck.” He, too, smiled (a reaction you often get
at Sprouts).
“When do you want to set up One Can A Week in the other stores?”
Richard asked. “You should get that going.”
In the past few days I have been thinking very hard
about two things: Finding volunteers and finding a sponsor. I cannot go into
more Sprouts stores without either
in place.
To answer the budget question I put together a cost
spreadsheet. (See below). The one surprise to me was how much I spent to get
things “going” at Speedway
Good thing the $1,000 plus didn’t happen all at once
like Richard’s request.
Now I really need a sponsor or a crowd sourcing idea to
bring all of the Sprouts
supermarkets online.
Taking Care of an Old Obligation
A couple of weeks ago a Sprouts customer told me she owed the
Community Food Bank a donation.
Someone who worked for her turned down a paycheck and instead insisted she make
a donation to the food bank. Saturday the customer showed up with a $150 check
which I turned in today.
This is another example of how folks at Sprouts are taking advantage of the
convenience of One Can A Week. No
more chasing down addresses, envelopes or stamps. Just drop off your food or
check donation by Saturday and Monday it gets delivered.
We collected a total of 138 lbs. of food. The money we donated
amounted to $51.00, a $25.00 check
and $26.00 in cash.
See you Sunday
Peter
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