POWELL, Tenn. -- The Salvation Army hosted its annual volunteer awards banquet April 27, 2006, at the Foundry in downtown Knoxville, Tenn. Weigel Stores Inc. was honored with the Col. Joe Shepard Award, recognizing the retailer's commitment to volunteering in the community.
We are honored and humbled to receive this award, and look forward continuing our relationship and service through the Salvation Army, said Kurt Weigel, recipient and son of CEO Bill Weigel.
Weigel Stores has had a long history of service to the community, [image-nocss] the company said. The Col. Joe Shepard Award presented to Weigel's was in recognition of the Weigel Family Christmas, a seven-year tradition of providing Christmas to more than 700 Salvation Army children.
In December 2005, for example, Weigel's treated 160 area underprivileged children to a day of shopping, lunch and a party with Santa. The children and their volunteer chaperones boarded buses to the local K-Mart. Each child went shopping for gifts of their choosing. Following the shopping spree, the children and chaperones are bused back to the Salvation Army Headquarters to enjoy lunch and a party in a festive atmosphere provided by vendors and sponsors of the Weigel's Family Christmas. Before the daywas over, Santa arrived.
Weigels operates nearly 50 dairy and convenience stores, all within a 50 mile radius of corporate headquarters in Powell, Tenn.
Meanwhile, in other industry-related charity news, Exxon Mobil Corp., Irving, Texas, through its affiliates in Indonesia, has announced a commitment of $1.5 million to assist the people affected by the massive earthquake in Yogyakarta and Central Java. ExxonMobil's contribution will go to relief organizations and nongovernmental organizations for the area's reconstruction and rehabilitation programs.
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