The Minnesota Grocers Association (MGA) has announced the Silver Plate Award winners of its statewide 2023 Bag Hunger Campaign contest, which will donate $16,500 to neighborhood hunger relief partners across the state.
The campaign brought together retail members, vendors and community hunger relief partners, with participants offering multiple opportunities for consumers to contribute. Their efforts resulted in the equivalent of more than 1.5 million meals. Since 2008, participants have provided more than 44 million meals to families in Minnesota.
Some stores encouraged shoppers to donate grocery items in-store or round up their purchase totals at the register. Others displayed the names of customers who donated money on shopping list icons in their stores.
“The success of the Bag Hunger Campaign is driven by the exceptional efforts and generosity of our members, vendor partners, community food support agencies, and most significantly, Minnesota’s grocery customers,” said Jamie Pfuhl, MGA president.
“The excitement and dedication demonstrated by all partners, participants and community members are inspiring. Grocers are essential to the communities they serve and are proud to play a role in this collective effort to end hunger in Minnesota. Congratulations to our Silver Plate Award winners and Campaign Champions for their wonderfully creative, engaging and effective efforts.”
The winners of the Silver Plate Awards created in-store displays that best depicted the campaign’s theme to Bag Hunger. They were required to use a combination of in-store advertising and vendor products.
In addition to the award, each recipient will receive $1,000 to donate to the food charity of its choice.
The Best Creative Partnership Silver Plates went to a vendor and retailer that teamed up to create a display with a central theme that educated consumers about the fight to end hunger.
This year’s winning partnerships were:
- Hugo’s Family Marketplace and Russ Davis Wholesale
- Kowalski’s Market and Russ Davis Wholesale
- Lunds & Byerlys, Post Consumer Brands and Prairie Farms Dairy
Other awards include:
- Best Campaign Execution Silver Plate – Teal’s Market
- Best Innovative Marketing Silver Plate – Knowlan’s Super Markets
- Best Community Hunger Support Silver Plate – Mackenthun’s Fine Foods
Participating companies also had the chance to be awarded Campaign Champions, receiving $500 to donate to the food charity of their choice. This year’s recipients were:
- Aldi;
- Chris’ Food Center;
- Cub Foods;
- Super One Foods/Miner’s; and
- Rush Foods.
About MGA
More than 125 years old, the Minnesota Grocers Association (MGA) is the only trade group that represents the food industry in the state from farm to fork. It has more than 300 retail, manufacturer and wholesale members supporting nearly 1,300 locations statewide.
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