Tops Totes for Change Raises Over $114,000 For Local Non-Profits

FULTON – Over the course of just 10 months, Tops Friendly Markets and the community at large has helped make a remarkable impact on local non-profits, and the environment, simply by purchasing a reusable shopping bag.

Launched in September of 2019, Tops Totes for Change encouraged shoppers to purchase reusable bags with a special charity design for a $1.99, with $1 of the proceeds being donated back to four local community organizations.

Since January 2020, Tops Totes for Change has raised over $114,607 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF). Also included are the United Way, Feeding America, and the Children’s Miracle Network.

Within those organizations, the funds benefit area local chapters including Children’s Hospitals and area food banks. Since the inception of Tops Totes for Change, the donation amount for the charitable organizations has reached over $143,000.

“What we love about the Tops Totes for Change JDRF bag is that the proceeds not only help fund our amazing research, but they also help to save our environment,” JDRF of Western New York (WNY)  Executive Director Karen Swierski said. “Our children benefit twofold; helping to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes (T1D), and helping to provide a better world for them to grow up in. We are so grateful to have Tops Friendly Markets as our JDRF Platinum Partner for a Cure.”

Tops recently reinstated the use of reusable bags in its New York stores, and the state of Vermont began enforcing its plastic bag ban on July 1, 2020.  As a result Tops is seeing another escalation of sales of the Tops Totes for Change bags, noted Tops Friendly Market Public and Media Relations Manager Kathy Sautter.

Tops Markets, LLC is headquartered in Williamsville, NY and operates 157 full-service supermarkets with five additional franchise stores and is the largest private, for-profit employer in Western New York.  As a leading grocery retailer in New York, northern Pennsylvania, and western Vermont, and with the support of 14,500 associates, Tops core mission is to help communities flourish. The company supports programs that seek to eradicate hunger and disease; promote the education of our youth; and to ensure they reduce environmental waste and energy consumption while providing our customers with sustainably sourced, high quality products.

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