Sweetbay Supermarket Makes $50,000 Donation to Neighborly Care Network

Sweetbay Supermarket presented representatives from the Neighborly Care Network with a $50,000 cash donation, securing funds for the non-profit agency’s Meals on Wheels program to continue through 2012. As a result of the donation, Neighborly Care Network will qualify for $450,00 in federal matching funds.

 “This is a substantial donation that not many corporations are making in the current economic climate,” said Debra Shade, Chief Executive Officer of Neighborly Care Network. “This Thanksgiving, we are extremely grateful to Sweetbay for recognizing the funding need and stepping up to the plate.”

 “When Sweetbay realized the Meals on Wheels program was in jeopardy, we knew we had to step in,” explained Nicole LeBeau, Sweetbay spokesperson. “We challenge other Pinellas County companies to join us in supporting this much-needed service.”

Neighborly Care Network (Meals on Wheels) manages a dozen senior services, helping as many as 5,000 clients annually. More than 500 seniors are on the waiting list to receive daily meals. Today’s donation will reduce the waiting list by more than 100 people and secure funds to keep the program intact. 

It is estimated that 40,000 seniors are in need of services in Pinellas County, where nearly 108,000 citizens are over age 75. Of those, 65,000 live alone and 24,000 are below the poverty line.  The elderly population is projected to double in the next 20 years.

 About Sweetbay Supermarket

Sweetbay Supermarket provides a one-of-a-kind shopping experience, built from the ground up and developed from research in core markets to express the vibrant, exciting and diverse tastes, colors and aromas of food important to Floridians. Sweetbay offers outstanding value, quality and variety, routinely partnering with Florida growers, to bring shoppers the freshest food available in the state. Sweetbay Supermarket was launched in November 2004 in Largo and is headquartered in Tampa. Sweetbay has 105 stores in Florida.  For more information, go to www.sweetbaysupermarket.com.