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Last month, The Fresh Grocer — which operates seven stores in the Philadelphia area — teamed up with a local charity to promote awareness and donations to a local food pantry.

The grocer partnered with Bebashi, a Philadelphia-based, full-service HIV/AIDS case management agency, to host Project 2011, a food drive operated through Facebook.

Supporters were urged to visit Bebashi’s Facebook page (http://www.causes.com/causes/608673) and become fans of the organization’s cause. For every fan of the cause, The Fresh Grocer pledged a donation of one nonperishable food item to Bebashi’s Emergency Food Cupboard. The campaign’s exceeded expectations, surpassing the original goal by more than 300 percent.

Bebashi’s Emergency Food Cupboard was put in place to provide nutritional meals to low-income urban families who have been affected by HIV/AIDS. However, the organization has been serving far more than their typical 60-75 monthly visitors, making it increasingly difficult to keep the Food Cupboard fully stocked.

“Our monthly visits to the cupboard have grown to 240-250 people per month” says Deena Weems Thornton, Bebashi’s director of development and public relations. “It is a constant struggle to keep the shelves stocked, so we were ecstatic that The Fresh Grocer was willing to help us in this unique initiative. We are extremely grateful to The Fresh Grocer and everyone who joined or cause.”

The Fresh Grocer, a local supermarket chain specializing in offering fresh and affordable foods in urban areas, saw the opportunity as a great way to support both Bebashi and the Philadelphia community.

Originally, the Bebashi-Fresh Grocer team sought out 300 Facebook Food Drive supporters as a realistic goal for the month long, social network-driven fundraiser. A total of 964 supporters became fans of the cause. Overall, the fundraiser generated about $600 in monetary contributions and close to 1,000 donations in nonperishable food items.

Source: Bebashi and The Fresh Grocer