‘Love Your Neighbor As Yourself’ Monday

I was at the grocery store the other day and when I looked at my receipt I was reminded of one of the easiest ways I am able to assist my favorite charities.  This weeks installment of ‘Love Your Neighbor As Yourself’ is dedicated to:

Grocery Store Rewards Programs

Many of you are familiar with the reward card programs at the local grocery stores, but some of you may not know that the grocery stores will also make a contribution to the local charity/school of your choice, if you link your card number to the number of that charity.  This contribution is a set percentage based on your total bill (before taxes).  They will make a contribution every time you shop! How easy is that?

How can our grocery shopping serve our neighbors:

*Contact your favorite or most frequented grocery store, that has a reward card program, and ask if they have the charity/school contribution option. (Kroger & Randall’s/Tom Thumb have this option)

*Contact your favorite charity and ask them if they have set up a “number” with that your grocery store.

*If they have not set up a number I would encourage them to do so.

*Once you have your number, fill out the necessary forms with your grocery store so that your card is linked to your charity/school of choice.

*Do your daily/weekly/monthly grocery shopping at that store!

As an example, our church has numbers set with Kroger and Tom Thumb. St. Philip’s uses all incoming proceeds from this program to fund programs and activities for our Bright Zone outreach ministry. If you attend St. Philip’s and are interested in linking your cards just contact the Outreach Coordinator in the church office and they will be more than happy to get you all the information you need.

If you have any questions about charity contributions through grocery store rewards programs or ways we can serve our neighbors in love, please leave a comment to this post and I will do my best to answer your questions and get your the information/resources you may need. God’s Peace.

You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself.”  ~Galatians 5:13-14 NIV