Fred Meyer today presented a check for $10,000 to the Greenwood Food Bank, to help make up for food donations lost when Greenwood Market closed. The Greenwood Food Bank is run by Volunteers of America.
Left to right: Kevin Ruoff, Fred Meyer’s Regional Human Resource Supervisor; Lori Drabant, Volunteers of America Regional Vice President for Development and Communication ; and Leann Geiger, Director of Volunteers of America’s Food Bank Services.
Greenwood Market closed in February and was demolished last week to make way for an expanded Fred Meyer. Greenwood Market donated an average of 4,000 pounds of groceries to the food bank each week.
Lori Drabant, Volunteers of America Regional Vice President for Development and Communication, said that $10,000 represents about 30,000 meals for food bank clients.
“It’s a big shot in the arm, because some of our donations have dropped with the economy, while the need has risen. It’s huge, it’s huge,” she said of the donation. “It’s the right gift at the right time.”
“I’m constantly amazed at the work you do,” Kevin Ruoff, Regional Human Resources Supervisor for Fred Meyer, told V of A staff, adding that the remodeled Greenwood Fred Meyer will be making regular donations to Food Lifeline, which distributes food to many area food banks, including Greenwood.
Fred Meyer employees also donate to community organizations through the United Way and the Fred Meyer Fund. Customers also can donate through coin boxes at checkout stands. Ruoff said he presented an $87,000 check from the Fred Meyer Fund to Food Lifeline last week.
Ruoff, who began his Fred Meyer career as a security guard at the Greenwood Fred Meyer in 1976, said all 100 employees of the Greenwood store were offered jobs at other Kroger stores, and all will be offered a job at the Greenwood store when it reopens. Ruoff said the store will need to hire an additional 125 employees.
The grand opening of the remodeled Greenwood Fred Meyer is now scheduled for Feb. 1, 2013.
