Tops Friendly Markets Launches “Tops In Education” School Fund-Raising Program

Tops Friendly Markets, a leading full-service grocery retailer in western New York, central New York, and northwestern Pennsylvania, announced that the company has launched TOPS in Education, a new program aimed at helping schools (k-12) raise funds for improvements and programming. With a focus on elementary, middle and high schools in Tops operating areas, “TOPS in Education” offers public and private schools, grades k-12 located in NY and PA the opportunity to gain funding for school improvements and programs. The TOPS in Education program allows customers, through their regular shopping trips at Tops, to help raise money for their schools through Tops’ donation of a percentage of their expenditures on TOPS, Full Circle or TopCare branded items. Once registered, every time shoppers purchase participating TOPS brand, Full Circle or TopCare products with their TOPS BonusPlus or BonusCard during each school year, TOPS will contribute a percentage of those purchase dollars to customers’ chosen school(s). Tops will send each school a check for the amount raised at the end of each school year. “Tops has an unwavering commitment to the communities we serve and part of that commitment is the mission to help improve the quality of life for children,” said Frank Curci, Tops’ president and CEO.    “One of the most important things we can do as a company is give back, especially when it comes to supporting and enriching our local schools.” Schools must be registered for the TOPS in Education fundraising program in order to receive funds and customers must register on the site as well to participate.  Schools and customers can register online at www.topsmarkets.com/education and customers can choose up to two schools to support. “We are excited to introduce TOPS in Education and with the challenging budget demands that our schools currently face throughout our geographic footprint, it is more important than ever that we do what we can to help,” said Andrew Brocato, Tops’ director of community relations. For the upcoming school year, customers can raise funds for their school(s) of choice through April 30, 2013.  Consumers can view their current school balance(s) beginning September 1, 2012 by logging into their account where they will see the name of their school (s) and the total current amount their school (s) have raised to-date. Customers and schools must re-enroll at the end of the school year for the upcoming school year.