It’s always been a mission of Rent-A-Center to help raise money for hungry Americans, but this year, Rent-A-Center took it from a local level to a national level by partnering with the nonprofit organization Feeding America, the largest hunger-relief organization in the country. And, like peanut butter and jelly, it was a winning match: Rent-A-Center raised $50,000 through its annual Fill the Fridge campaign, all of which benefits Feeding America food banks nationwide.
The campaign, which kicked off September 1 as part of Hunger Action Month, was open to both customers and employees. Rent-A-Center customers could either purchase a tag for $1 or participate in a Keep the Change campaign at checkout; new Rent-A-Center customers were given the option to donate to Fill the Fridge in lieu of a down payment. Of course, additional donations were happily accepted online or in-store. Rent-A-Center employees were provided the opportunity to give through the company’s website.
“We asked, and our customers happily gave,” sales manager Tony Silva says. “They really wanted to support the families in need.”
The two top fundraising stores received an additional $1,000 from Rent-A-Center’s corporate headquarters in Plano, Texas, to donate to the food bank in their community.
“Hunger is an issue that affects every county in the United States,” says Nancy Curby, senior vice president of corporate partnerships at Feeding America. “We are grateful to Rent-A-Center customers and employees for helping to fight hunger in the communities that they serve.”
Since 2002 Rent-A-Center has donated more than $1million to local and national hunger-relief organizations.