Weaver Street shoppers are rounding up their totals for charity

This holiday season, Weaver Street Market is asking their customers to round up their purchases for its Round Up! campaign to help those in need.

When customers round up their purchases, they are rounding their total to the nearest dollar value (ex. $10.30 to $11). According to Brenda Camp, Owner Services Coordinator, the Round Up! campaign will last until Jan. 3.

“These donations go towards our Round Up! fund, which is our donation to our partner organizations,” Camp said. “This particular campaign is for the food bank, the (Inter-faith Council for Social Service) and Orange Congregations in Missions (OCIM).”

Weaver Street is using the money raised to purchase fresh produce to donate to each of their partner groups.

“Most of the groups have significant challenges getting fresh produce to their clients, and we think that resinates with the shoppers here because they want fresh produce themselves,” Camp said. “We have the ability to get fresh produce for significantly reduced prices because of our connections with local farms and produce co-ops.”

Co-director for the IFC, Kristin Lavergne, said most of the food items that they have in store are canned and easy-to-stack foods because they do not have the funds to purchase fresh produce to distribute.

“We know that fresh, local and even organic produce are important and healthier and I think from that perspective Weaver Street is really helping to make those items more accessible for folks that may not be able to purchase them for themselves,” Lavergne said.

The IFC helps between 80 to 100 households a week, providing them with the appropriate amount of food for the size of their households.

“Smaller houses get less (food) and larger houses get more, but on average each house gets about three bags of food,” Lavergne said.

All three Weaver Street Market locations will be participating in the Round Up! campaign. According to Camp, on the first day of the campaign over the course of four hours they had 900 customers decide to round up.

“It’s a simple way to get a lot of small donations and they make a large impact if you do it over time,” Camp said. “If people continue to round up their totals for the next five weeks we believe we could raise over $20,000 to donate.”

One of the appeals to doing this campaign is that it is easy to get customers to donate. Aaron Pickrell, a customer at Weaver Street Market, decided to round up his total to help the campaign.

“I like helping people and choosing to round up was an easy choice with low commitment,” Pickrell said.

Camp said that the Round Up! campaign is really a test and so far it has been very popular because of the simplicity for customers. With the help of the donation, Camp hopes the fresh produce can help provide more nutritional options for their partner organization when they go out and distribute food this holiday season.

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