Bi-Lo/Winn-Dixie Helps Nonprofits Feed Needy Families' Pets

Bi-Lo Holdings LLC, parent company of Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie grocery stores, has launched the latest iteration of the PAWS “Feed the Love” community donation program to aid area food banks and nonprofit organizations working to eliminate pets’ hunger on the local level.

Since 2010, the campaign has distributed more than 85 tons of pet food for needy families throughout Bi-Lo’s store footprint; this year, the program is expanding to include all Winn-Dixie stores. The grocery companies' merger was completed in March 2012.

“It is awful to imagine, but there are many people with limited financial means who face a difficult dilemma each week: feed themselves or feed their pets,” noted Rondel Hartwell, director of community involvement and charitable giving for Jacksonville, Fla.-based Bi-Lo Holdings. “Each year we dedicate countless resources to our area food partners to help feed the hungry. In the month of April, we want to do a little more for our furry friends.”

Pet Project

Through Tuesday, April 29, Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie shoppers can buy a $5 prepackaged bag of pet food when they present a My Bi-Lo Bonuscard or Winn-Dixie Reward Card, or give a monetary donation of their choice at any checkout. Each bag contains a week’s worth of dry and canned packages of PAWS Premium and Bi-Lo and Winn-Dixie’s own brands of cat and dog food. For every bag purchased, customers will receive an additional 5 cents per gallon in fuelperks! Rewards.

Bi-Lo Holdings employs nearly 60,000 associates at 686 grocery stores and 482 in-store pharmacies throughout Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.