SACRAMENTO — Gerald Watts is helping to fight the Clayton Fire, or its effects at least, right from his grocery store in Sacramento.
“Yeah. It feels great,” he said.
Save Mart supermarkets are collecting donations right at the so-called point of purchase, when customers already have their wallets out. And it works. They found that out last year when they did the same for the Valley Fire, another devastating blaze that ripped through Lake County.
“In nine days, they raised $41,000, our customers did,” said store manager Julie Sardia.
As the Clayton fire burns on, Save Mart isn’t the only one place they are applying the lessons of last summer- – this time around, Lake County isn’t accepting any kind of donation other than cash.
“The ultimate result was that the County was left with a giant mountain of goods that had to be disposed of. It literally cost the tax payers a couple hundred thousand dollars to dispose of those goods,” Carol Huchingson of Lake County said.
Here at Save Mart, the cash they are collecting goes directly to the Red Cross, something Watts likes, because he knows Lake County isn’t the only place there trouble.
“Everything that’s going on in Louisiana and around the country. I feel like I should just donate a couple bucks to help out,” he said.
And as if the good feeling weren’t enough — the record of his donation for tax returns was printed right on the receipt for his groceries.
You can donate at the following Save Mart locations:
- 4708 Manzanita Avenue – Carmichael
- 1900 Anderson Road – Davis
- 9160 Elk Grove Florin – Elk Grove
- 3021 Stanford Ranch Road – Rocklin
- 5060 Foothill Blvd – Roseville
- 7960 Gerber Road – Sacramento
- 5600 Folsom Blvd – Sacramento
- 9137 Kiefer Blvd – Sacramento
- 2501 Fair Oaks Blvd – Sacramento
- 386 Elm Street – Auburn
- 2054 Nevada City Highway – Grass Valley
- 3966-A Missouri Flat Road – Placerville
- 1270 Broadway – Placerville
- 828 J Street – Marysville
- 6636 Clark Road – Paradise
- 146 West East Avenue – Chico
