HURLEY, Va. – More than 40 homes were destroyed after devastating flooding in Hurley, Virginia several weeks ago. In an effort to support flood victims in the area, Food City presented a check on Thursday totaling more than $106,000.
This comes after the supermarket retailer worked with United Way of Southwest Virginia and WCYB-TV to start a fundraising campaign. Food City pledged $10,000 to kick off the drive.
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During the ten-day campaign, the businesses raised $88,900, with Coca-Cola contributing $7,500 to exceed the campaign’s goal of $106,000.
Customers also had the chance to donate at the checkouts of participating Food City locations in the Tri-Cities, Southwest Virginia and Eastern Kentucky.
“Our customers stepped up, our business partners stepped up,” said Food City CEO, Steve Smith. “They knew the devastation that happened here, and they were very generous to help us. We kicked it off with $10,000 from Food City but a lot of the rest of the money came from other people.”
Smith grew up in Buchanan County and said seeing the catastrophic loss due to flooding in the area certainly hit home. He said it warms his heart to see the community come together during the time of need.
“This Hurley community, I played ball against a lot of the kids here growing up,” he said. “We’d have some rough and tumble games, but we became friends and we’re still friends. This is a great part of the world here, and it’s tragic what they’ve had to go through, but it’s what we live with here in the coalfields with the topography that we have.”
The President and CEO of United Way of Southwest Virginia was also happy to help contribute to the cause.
“United Way of Southwest Virginia is grateful to Food City, their associates, and all the Food City customers who generously donated funds to help our friends in Hurley recover from the flood,” said Travis W. Staton, president and CEO of United Way of Southwest Virginia. “In working with United Way of Southwest Virginia, Food City has guaranteed that every dollar of this donation will go directly to benefit the citizens of Hurley. Food City has always been a tremendous citizen in every community it serves, and today’s announcement is another example of that.”
Food City also donated a truckload of water to area flood victims and has worked with several of their vendor partners to provide product donations to assist flood victims, including a truckload of paper products donated by Cardinal Tissue.
If you would like to help, you can donate to the United Way by visiting its website here.