Safeway Customers Support Local Schools with Purchases

Safeway Inc. is running its fifth annual back-to-school program where customer purchases help support local schools.

Ten percent of the sale price of more than 2,000 products manufactured by 100 food manufacturers will be donated by local schools designated by customers.

Customers must use their Safeway Club Cards to participate in the month-long program, which runs through Sept. 15. Once the program ends, club members are sent a receipt showing their total donation. They can either mail or take the receipt to the school. The school then redeems it online.

“These are extraordinarily difficult times for our schools, and, now more than ever, we need partnerships between business and schools to help close the gap on a range of important school programs that face reduction or outright elimination,” California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell said in a release. “

Since Safeway initiated the program in 2005 with 40 manufacturers, more than $11.3 million has been raised for schools and education programs in the various regions where Safeway operates 1,739 stores in the U.S. and western Canada.

Participating products are marked with a special yellow school bus icon.

The 200 highest-earning schools will receive a $1,000 bonus to add to their overall donation.