Residents can help Shopko give back to community

Area residents who would like to help the Kasson-Mantorville School District have an opportunity to do that this Christmas season when they shop at Shopko Hometown in Kasson.
The Shopko Foundation is giving back to the Hometown communities through a program at all their stores including Kasson.
The “Help Us Give Back” initiative gives customers a chance to sign-up once a day every day now through Dec. 24, For every signature the Shopko Foundation will donate $1 to a local a local school district up to $2,000. For the Kasson store the donation goes to the Kasson-Mantorville School District.
“At Shopko Hometown, we believe kids count,” said Kerry Krueger, the Shopko Hometown Kasson store manager.
“The Help Us Give Back campaign is an easy and free way for local residents to raise money to support programs that are important to a child’s educational experience,” he said. “Given our community’s strong commitment to its children, I fully expect we will quickly reach 2,000 signatures in our store well before the Dec. 24 deadline.”
The program began Dec. 1 and so far things are going well, said Assistant Manager John Bunton.
It is a simple process, Bunton said, because all a customer has to do is come in to the store and sign-up. No purchase or donation is necessary.
“Shopko does this every year,” Bunton said. “We like to give back to the community and we try to keep it local.”
The Shopko Foundation points to Shopko’s roots as a retail health and optical care provider, company officials said. To maximize its impact, the Foundation has a narrow focus of giving in areas that support the health of Shopko customers, teammates and communities.
Foundation officials said it recognizes that education is fundamental to an individual’s health and functionality in society and has developed the “Help Us Give Back” program to support local schools.
During last year’s program, the Foundation donated more than $310,000 to school districts across the country. This year, if all 219 Shopko stores nationwide reach the 2,000-signature goal, the Shopko Foundation will have donated more than $430,000.