Rouses Markets Expects to Provide More Than $500,000 in Assistance to Local Food Banks Across the Gulf Coast by Year’s End
Continuing a 65-Year Tradition of Locals Helping Locals
“Being local means showing up for our communities, especially in times of need,” said Donny Rouse, CEO of Rouses Markets. “This is our largest food bank donation year ever, and it’s especially meaningful as we celebrate our 65th anniversary. We’re proud to support our local foods banks in such a significant way.”
Rouses Markets works closely with its vendor partners to secure full truckload donations of high-need items, which go directly to food banks across the Gulf Coast. “This year, working with our vendor partners and members of the New Orleans Saints, we were able to provide holiday turkeys for more than 1,500 families,” noted Rouse. “We’re proud to do our part, and grateful to everyone who helped us show up for our communities.”
Rouses Markets is one of the largest year-round supporters of food banks on the Gulf Coast. For nearly two decades, the family-owned grocer has operated an in-store donation program that provides hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and product to food banks serving the cities, parishes, and counties they call home.
Customers who want to help can purchase pre-packaged $5 and $10 Brown Bags filled with the most-requested non-perishables and drop them into the red Team Up for Good donation barrels at the front of the store. Customers may also donate cash at the register, which local food banks use to purchase fresh items such as produce and protein. Second Harvest, the Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank, and Feeding the Gulf Coast—which serves Mississippi and Alabama—pick up directly from Rouses Markets stores, ensuring donations go straight back into the neighborhoods they serve.
Rouses Markets recently held its first holiday food drives with local media partners. The company regularly hosts seasonal food drives, emergency relief efforts, and special campaigns to help feed neighbors in need.
Rouses Markets is also a major donor to the new Second Harvest Food Bank Bayou Distribution Center in Houma, which serves the company’s home base on the Bayou, where Donny Rouse’s grandfather opened the first stores and where the company still operates and maintains its corporate headquarters today. The center is already moving hundreds of thousands of pounds of food into communities where the need is urgent and growing.
Rouses Markets’ support includes:
- Company Donations: Direct financial assistance to food banks serving the parishes, counties, and cities where Rouses Markets operates.
- Truckload Donations: Full truckloads of high-need items from trusted vendor partners who share Rouses Markets’ commitment to nourishing local communities.
- In-Store Customer Donations: $5 and $10 pre-packaged Brown Bags, collected in red donation barrels at the entrance to every store, making it easy for shoppers to help feed families in their own neighborhoods.
- Bayou Distribution Center Sponsorship: Support for the new Second Harvest Food Bank Bayou Distribution Center in Houma, which is moving hundreds of thousands of pounds of food into the bayou region.
- Media-Partnered Food Drives: Ongoing food drives with local media partners throughout the year, including summer campaigns for kids and expanded holiday food drives beginning in October.
For customers who want to contribute this season, donations can be made at any Rouses Market through Brown Bag purchases or scan-to-donate coupons at checkout.
PIN-UP PROGRAMS
We proudly support local charities through our pin-up program, which gives customers the opportunity to give back to the community by making a monetary donation at the register to selected local charities.
RECENT PIN-UP PROGRAM CHARITIES INCLUDE:
Alabama Kidney Foundation
American Diabetes Association
American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
American Heart Association
Autism Society of Alabama
Down Syndrome Awareness
JDRF- Juvenile Diabetes Foundation
March of Dimes
Mary Bird Perkins Cancer Center
Special Olympics LA
Thibodaux Regional Medical Center
To learn more about our Pin-Up Program opportunities or to inquire about our monthly schedule for your local charity email: advertising@rouses.com
SPONSORSHIP REQUESTS
Partnering with area events is one of the ways we support the communities we serve. In response to the large number of sponsorship requests we get every year, we only review proposals submitted electronically. For consideration, please submit your proposal to Rouses Markets. Your proposal must be submitted at least eight weeks prior to the event, and you must allow Rouses Markets two weeks to respond to your request. We look forward to receiving your proposal.
DONATION REQUESTS
We work daily with local food banks to bring food, funds and hands-on assistance to local hunger relief efforts to our neighbors in need. In 2022 alone, those contributions of food and money provided the equivalent of more than 3 million meals.
Feeding the hungry is our number one giving priority. But each year, we also assist hundreds of local organizations, often with the generous participation of our customers. These are nonprofit organizations, schools and churches working to make the communities we share better places to live and work. Nonprofit and community organizations interested in donations, gift cards or sponsorships for their cause or charitable fundraising event should submit a formal request. You can download a request form here. Return completed donation request form to your local Rouses Market or mail to P.O. Box 5358, Thibodaux LA 70302. Requests need to be received a minimum of eight weeks before events, programs, activities, initiatives or projects begin and must include all the information requested on the application. You will be contacted if your request has been granted.
