Good grocers make Good Neighbors

In a piece on page 13 about competing with mass merchandisers, consultant Peter Leech reminds grocers that Sam Walton envied the ability of supermarkets to reach out and touch every one of their customers. With its store greeters, Wal-Mart makes a perfunctory attempt at duplicating that, but Walton admitted his company couldn't quite pull it off.

Supermarkets are the most heavily trafficked spots in any town. Think about it: How many times a year do people visit their town halls, police departments, libraries, hospitals—the so-called centers of their communities? Yet the average person finds herself or himself in a supermarket once or twice a week. This presents grocers with a special opportunity—some would say a responsibility—to reach out to members of their communities, offering them more than just the physical sustenance of food.

Each year Good Neighbor, the Raleigh, N.C.-based company that places community event bulletin boards in stores, recognizes industry associates across the country who serve the people of their communities in ways that extend far beyond the deli counter or the customer service desk. Following are brief accounts of the deeds of the winners of this year's Good Neighbor Awards.

While other young Southern Californians spend their free time skating along Venice Beach, 21-year-old courtesy clerk Angelica Balders might well be conferring with some of the state's congressmen on human rights issues. Jerelyn Coleman, her manager at Ralphs in San Bernardino, sums up Annie's philosophy as: "Don't sit and complain; do something positive that can inspire other people." And do she does. Annie works with a nonprofit that encourages San Bernardino kids to stay away from drugs and alcohol, assists the Red Cross in HIV awareness efforts, helps minorities in the community to gain educational opportunities and work experience, and volunteers with the Human Rights Campaign.

In the seven-day-a-week world of food retailing, where can one find the time for volunteer work? A good person to ask would be Joe Millay, who, in between his duties last year as co-manager at Kroger in Paducah, Ky., worked some 500 hours for various community groups. Joe chaired the food committee for his Lions Club's telethon, cooked and delivered meals to the needy and elderly, and distributed 2,500 cases of cookies en route to being named Girl Scout Volunteer of the Year. In his spare time he taught Sunday school and played Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny at a local elementary school.

Joe has a counterpart living in Butler, Pa., making one imagine that such all-out effort is not uncommon in the supermarket business. David Crater, controller at Friedman's, is chairman of the Butler County Chamber of Commerce, is a leader with Boy Scout Troop 16, coaches youth basketball at the YMCA, and does work for charities including the American Cancer Society, United Way, and United Cerebral Palsy.

Sometimes the best way to serve a community is one person at a time. Karen Fladeland, a mother of three and salad bar manager at Marsh in Noblesville, Ind., enjoys the company of older people and volunteered as a Friendly Visitor for a local senior services group. She tidied the apartment of her friend, 88-year-old Ovie Friedrich, took her cat to the vet, went on walks with her, and had her home for dinner and to play with the kids. When she found the scraps of a lifetime of sewing projects in Ovie's closet, she took them to her quilting group, which transformed them into a quilt of memories. Shortly after, her nurse reported Ovie telling her that "she hadn't felt this good in a long time, physically or emotionally. She said, 'I love being alive.'"

This year's national Good Neighbor winner Maureen McLaughlin, human resources director for A&P's Food Emporium division in New York, helps enrich the lives of developmentally disabled people and senior citizens by employing them. In turn, she enriches the shopping experiences of customers who come into contact with these special people. "I'd like to share our secret with other employers," Maureen told a Westchester County newspaper that profiled three young men working at one of her stores. "I didn't realize how well [developmentally disabled persons] would be received by the community."

The fellow who lived next door to Robert Frost professed to the poet that "good fences make good neighbors." Frost's inclination, however, was that "Something there is that doesn't love a wall, that wants it down." Funny that we describe stores as bricks-and-mortar, the stuff of sturdy walls, because so often the people who run them do so much to tear down walls of apathy and misconception in their communities.

Editor-in-Chief Al Urbanski can be reached at aurbanski@progressivegrocer.com.