Page 10 - Chester County Chamber - 2019 Guide and Business Directory

PHILANTHROPY
CHESTER COUNTY CHAMBER
Good Works Pay Off
Local businesses, non-profits step up to give back
Chester County businesses, industries and non-profits do not hold back on giving back — time, money, in-kind goods and services and expertise — to their communities. Some of the philanthropic efforts are corporate, some highly local, others even personal. All of them, however, add to the quality of life in Chester County.
It takes a village of sponsors to put togeth- er the United Way of Chester County’s Color 5K Run. Brandywine Hospital-Tower Health and Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. are the main sponsors of the run/walk. The 2018 version had a new host sponsor, the Brandywine Airport in West Chester, where the event gave a whole new meaning to the airport’s runway.
This is an untimed, family-friendly fundraiser with an emphasis on fun. Along the route, volunteers at color stations shower participants with colored powder (cornstarch-based for safety) and confetti, ensuring that the finish line is colorful.
Because the local sponsors cover expenses, all the money from registration fees benefits the United Way’s Financial Stability Center in Exton, a one-stop shop for people trying to become financially literate and self-sufficient. This year’s run attracted 450 people and netted $26,000.
The financial center is one of about
60 programs the United Way supports annually, and the Color Run is one of two major fundraisers.
Chester County Color 5K Run
This year’s sponsors also included Comcast, Chester County Economic Development Council, UPS and Rita’s Water Ice-Eagleview.
Here are snapshots of others at work in the county:
Wegmans Food Markets
Wegmans started partnering with the Chester County Food Bank in 2003, when it opened a store in Downingtown. Through the years, both Wegmans and its involve- ment with the food bank have grown.
“Providing food for people at risk of hunger is one of the company’s highest giving priorities,” said Jose Frazier, service area manager for the Malvern Wegmans, which opened in 2010. “Because of
that, one of the first things we do when we move into a new market is build a relationship with the local food bank.”
Wegmans’ philanthropy takes several avenues:
• Care About Hunger: an annual campaign during which cashiers ask customers to add donations to their grocery orders. This is a companywide effort, but the contributions remain local; 100 percent
of the donations in Chester County go to the food bank. “At Malvern, we hit a single-store record of $86,653.83 raised
Chester County Color 5K Run
during our 2017 campaign,” said Frazier. “That doesn’t happen without a front
end of highly engaged cashiers, raising awareness of the program with our customers. Combined with Downingtown, our customers and employees generously donated more than $152,000 last year.”
• Food by the truckload: For the past four years, Wegmans in Malvern has donated a truckload of non-perishable food to the food bank, which stores and distributes it to food pantries and shelters throughout the county.
• Employee volunteers: Twice a
month, employees from Malvern and Downingtown work in the food bank’s warehouse, prepare meals or help with the harvest at the food bank’s farm. “There’s no doubt that we are all having fun, but
8 Chester County Chamber of Business & Industry