A Savannah-based chain of convenience stores is creating a $ 20 million community fund to support charities in its 68 stores off the coast of Georgia and South Carolina.
Parker, which recently expanded its operations with several new Parker Kitchen stores throughout the Charleston region, is considering allocating money from Parker’s new Community Fund to specific charities that have yet to be determined.
“Last year, we were very lucky, but I looked around and saw so many people suffering and it seemed like the ideal time to step forward,” said Parker founder and CEO Greg Parker in an interview with The Post and Courier . “We want to lead by example and convince others to join our initiatives.”
A large amount of the money will go to major charitable initiatives in the Charleston area.
“We will do really significant things,” said Parker. “We hope to have an even greater charitable impact in South Carolina in 2021 and beyond.”
The Parker’s Kitchen convenience store chain, based in Savannah, Georgia, operates at several locations in the Charleston area, including this one on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard in West Ashley. Parker / supplied
Parker plans to create a Community Impact Committee to decide how the money should be used to make the greatest impact.
The initial donation is intended to be the starting capital for a fund that Parker intends to cultivate. He is also considering adding a rounding campaign for customers to donate in his stores, which currently handle more than 125,000 transactions a day.
The new fund is not the first donation to the 45-year-old company that started with a store in Midway, Georgia, in 1976.
In recent years, the company has sponsored the Parker Emergency and Trauma Center at Memorial Hospital in Savannah and has made a record $ 5 million donation to name the Parker College of Business at Georgia Southern University.
The company also pays in areas where it operates stores through its Supplying the Community initiative, in which a percentage of gasoline sales sold at Parker stores on the first Wednesday of the month is donated to support education, health and other causes.
In South Carolina, Parker operates in Charleston, Moncks Corner, Goose Creek, Summerville, Walterboro, Hardeeville, Bluffton, Hilton Head, Beaufort and Port Royal. Several more stores are planned across the Charleston region in the next four years.
Parker’s, which employs more than 1,200 people, was recently named the Convenience Store Decision Network of the year 2020, the industry’s highest honor. It was also voted one of America’s top 10 gas station brands by USA Today readers.
In addition, the Parker’s Rewards loyalty program, which includes more than 150,000 members, saved more than $ 15 million for customers.