Meijer donates $10,000 to local Wauwatosa non-profits

In the spirit of the holiday season, the Wauwatosa Meijer donated $10,000 to two Wauwatosa-based non-profits: Ignite the Spirit and Milwaukee Rescue Mission. Ignite the Spirit provides support to firefighters going through a difficult time, and Milwaukee Rescue Mission provides neighbors who are homeless with food, shelter and care.

As part of their third annual Meijer Team Gives Program, local team members across the entire Meijer footprint were empowered to identify and select organizations in their own community to receive donations. Since the program started, the retailer donated over $10 million to 1,700 local nonprofits through the Meijer Team Gives program. For more information on the retailer's commitment to its communities, team members and customers, please visit www.meijercommunity.com.

Meijer announced today its third annual Meijer Team Gives fall program, empowering team members to grant $3 million in surprise donations to nearly 500 nonprofits within their communities. This announcement follows the retailer’s special Meijer Team Gives spring program earlier this year, which resulted in $1.5 million to nearly 300 nonprofits.

“Meijer Team Gives empowers our team members to choose nonprofits and local charitable organizations that matter most to them, and year after year, it’s very humbling to see their passion grow for this special program,” said Rick Keyes, Meijer President & CEO. “This program truly demonstrates our team members’ commitment to enriching lives in the communities they serve and we are very pleased to support organizations that help our neighbors in need.”

During Meijer Team Gives, each store, distribution facility, supply chain unit and Meijer Team Member Resource Group is given $10,000 to donate to one nonprofit or split between two in the community. Team members at each location work together to identify the local nonprofits meaningful to them and the communities they serve. For this most recent program, nearly 30 percent of all chosen organizations received a donation from Meijer for the first time, where close to 70 percent of the selected nonprofits had an existing partnership with Meijer.

The program continues to grow as the retailer expands its footprint, opening new supercenter, grocery and market formats year after year. Organizations chosen include causes focused on hunger relief, children & families, health & wellbeing, diversity, equity & inclusion, environmental and more.

In Michigan, the Grand Haven store voted to award their donation to Kenzie’s Be Cafe, which provides meaningful employment for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities so they too have the skills and training to find further, long term employment within the community.

“Kenzie’s Be Café is a beloved organization within the Grand Haven community,” said Robin Owczarzak, Store Director at the Grand Haven Meijer. “When our team members learned they were looking to expand their educational programs, it was a no-brainer to choose them for our Meijer Team Gives donation.”