Buy Alabama’s Best Donates $55K, Honors Retailers

Buy Alabama’s Best Retail Campaign Launch Awards luncheon in Birmingham honored two retailers with the Display Contest Awards. The winners for 2016 were Sav Mor Food Outlet in Calera and Foodland in Gardendale.

The group also presented nearly $55,000 to the UAB Division of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology at Children’s of Alabama; the proceeds were raised from retailers’ displays of Buy Alabama’s Best products and sales of icons during the months of March and September.

In total, more than $670,000 has been donated to the effort to fight pediatric cancer. Buy Alabama’s Best Retail Campaign is a joint effort among the Alabama Grocers Association, the Alabama Department of Agriculture & Industries and the Alabama Food Manufacturers and Producers Association.

“This generous donation from local Alabama businesses associated with the Alabama Grocers Association will help us meet our mission of working to cure every child with cancer,” said Dr. Kimberly Whelan, associate professor of pediatrics, Children’s of Alabama. “Children’s of Alabama is working to find a cure each and every day.”

The campaign highlights Alabama food products that are produced or manufactured in Alabama or by companies with headquarters in Alabama. The purpose is to identify and increase awareness of Alabama food products and increase their sales, which currently have a $2 billion impact in Alabama’s economy, tax base and foodservice industries.

In 2017, the campaign will ask retailers to target Alabama products in four months: March, June, September and December.