Reasor’s is helping the environment and helping local children in need with their reusable bag savings program, which kicked off one year ago and has since collected a total of $22,052.65 for the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. 

The program is called Recycle Hope and it was created by Reasor’s to give customers the option of donating their reusable bag savings to the Food Bank.

All Reasor’s shoppers who use reusable bags for their groceries at checkout automatically save 6¢ off their total purchase per reusable bag used. Recycle Hope is a convenient way to pass along those savings to those in need.

“Our customers have really stepped up in a big way to support this program. At Reasor’s we want to be involved in opportunities like this when it benefits others in our community. We are committed to be involved in some capacity to help meet all of the needs of the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma,” said Steve Lehto, vice president and chief operations officer of Reasor’s and CFBEO board member.

Recycle Hope proceeds benefit the Food for Kids Backpack Program at the Food Bank, which provides weekly sacks of food to elementary school-aged children who would have little or no food to eat on weekends. The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma currently provides food to more than 4,100 elementary school children a week in 8 school districts across Tulsa County.

In addition, the Food for Kids Backpack Program continues to expand to communities across the remaining 23 counties of Eastern Oklahoma the Food Bank serves with the help of Partner Programs. These Partner Programs provide sacks of food at their local schools to more than 3,100 children in their communities.

“Twenty- two thousand dollars buys a lot of food, and I love the fact that it allows even those on very tight budgets to help feed the hungry in our community,” said Eileen Bradshaw, executive director of the Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma. This program has a big impact on the hungry, but a small impact on individual donor budgets- Reasor’s has come up with a great plan.”

The Community Food Bank of Eastern Oklahoma is a non-profit organization founded in 1981. The food collected comes into the Food Bank, is sorted and boxed by volunteers, and then made available to their 450 Partner Programs throughout 24 counties in Eastern Oklahoma. These Programs include food pantries, emergency shelters, after-school programs, soup kitchens and senior citizen centers.

Reasor’s was founded over 49 years ago in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. It was family owned until 2007, when Reasor’s became an employee owned company. Today, Reasor’s has 16 locations and two convenience stores with an additional location planned for 2012. The company employs nearly 3,000 people in Northeastern Oklahoma. Supermarket News ranks the company #34 on its Top 50 Small Chains and Independents in the U.S. for 2011.