QFC, GOLDEN GRAIN PASTA TEAM TO REAP HARVEST FOR NEEDY

RICHARD TURCSIK

BELLEVUE, Wash. -- Quality Food Centers here helped donate an estimated 80,000 pounds of pasta to help feed the needy.

It did so through a "buy-one, donate-one" promotion with Golden Grain Mission Pasta. In the promotion, Golden Grain donated one 12-ounce package of Mission pasta to the Northwest Harvest food bank in Seattle for each 12-ounce bag purchased in a QFC store. The promotion was backed with in-store displays, full-page newspaper ads, multi-unit purchase specials and public service announcements on local TV and radio station stations, which were also co-sponsors.

Officials at QFC did not return phone calls seeking comment, but Fred Storck, director of pasta at Pleasanton, Calif.-based Golden Grain, a subsidiary of Quaker Oats Co., Chicago, said this is the fifth year QFC has teamed with Golden Grain for the promotion.

While the event is exclusive to QFC, Golden Grain does other types of promotions with its other retail partners.

Ellen Hansen, director of community affairs at Northwest Harvest, said the pasta will be distributed through Northwest Harvest's own facility in downtown Seattle as well as to 270 other food pantry and sit-down meal programs in Washington state.

Hansen said QFC is using special signs and endcap displays of Mission pasta to promote the effort.

Storck said the monthlong campaign, which was held just before the holidays, featured all 12-ounce packages of Mission pasta; including long goods, such as spaghetti; short goods, such as elbow macaroni; and noodles.