Change Recipients
In 2020, Change! raised $36,025.11 for twelve organizations. Contributions came from 81,343 customers who chose to ‘round up’ at our registers.
Since the program began in October 2013, Change! has raised over $231,000 for local and national organizations doing important work that better the lives of our shoppers and our city!
January 2022
Friendship House Roanoke, Inc
Friendship House Roanoke, Inc is a small, Christian community center in Old Southwest Roanoke that aims to partner with individuals, businesses, and congregations to bring relief to our neighbors who are struggling in poverty.
Friendship House Inc accomplishes this through 3 primary programs: a food pantry that provides groceries to local families each week, a daily after-school program that provides tutoring, play and exercise, and healthy food options to 30 children, and a refugee housing program that works to provide temporary house, furniture, clothing, food, etc to families as they are first entering the country.
Funds raised will go directly to helping keep the weekly Food Pantry open. They currently serve 140 households on average each week with canned goods, fresh produce, frozen meat and hygiene products.
2022 Change Recipients
JANUARY 2022
Friendship House Roanoke Inc
Friendship House Roanoke, Inc is a small, Christian community center in Old Southwest Roanoke that aims to partner with individuals, businesses, and congregations to bring relief to our neighbors who are struggling in poverty.
Friendship House Inc accomplishes this through 3 primary programs: a food pantry that provides groceries to local families each week, a daily after-school program that provides tutoring, play and exercise, and healthy food options to 30 children, and a refugee housing program that works to provide temporary house, furniture, clothing, food, etc to families as they are first entering the country.
Funds raised will go directly to helping keep the weekly Food Pantry open. They currently serve 140 households on average each week with canned goods, fresh produce, frozen meat and hygiene products.
FEBRUARY 2022
RIDE Solutions
RIDE Solutions is a program dedicated to reducing the environmental impacts of vehicle emissions. By helping to promote and connect individuals and businesses partners to transportation options, RIDE Solutions helps our members take fewer vehicle trips though incentive programs, education, and encouragement to use cleaner modes of transportation, such as car pooling, van pooling, transit, bike or walk.
Funds raised will purchase bike racks for RIDE Solutions’ business outreach program, to give to local business as an incentive to promote bike commuting.
MARCH 2022
Brain Injury Services of Southwest Virginia
Brain Injury Services of Southwest Virginia’s mission is to help children and adults living with brain injury improve the quality of their lives and reintegrate into family and community.
Brain Injury Services of SWVA is here to help turn tragedy into hope! No only is BISSWVA here to fill the huge need of support during a challenging time, BISSWVA provides this support FREE of charge for survivors of brain injury and their families.
Funds raised will support the organizations case management, which is provided free of charge. Coordinating supportive services can empower survivors and families to again become involved in their communities as they return home, to school, to work, and to life.
APRIL 2022
Trees Roanoke
Trees Roanoke is a small, all-volunteer non-profit organization with a mission to support Roanoke City’s urban forest by purchasing, growing, & planting trees on public property & providing community education to illustrate the health, environmental, & economic benefits of our city’s trees.
The funds raised will purchase trees to be planted on public property in Roanoke.
MAY 2022
Roanoke Valley Speech and Hearing
The Roanoke Valley Speech and Hearing Center is a non-profit community service organization approved by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization. Established in 1959 by the Cosmopolitan Club of Roanoke, the Center is supported by fees for services, grants, and donations. Our mission is to improve quality of life by helping children and adults communicate effectively. The mission of RVSHC is to improve the quality of life by helping adults and children communicate effectively.
Funds raised will be used to provide free speech and hearing screens in the community, primarily to low-income/disadvantaged populations.
JUNE 2022
Mill mountain zoo
Mill Mountain Zoo is an accredited, family-friendly destination committed to education and wildlife conservation. They serve over 15,000 children in 24+ school districts throughout the region and is the only zoological entity in Virginia’s Blue Ridge that offers educational programming tied to Virginia’s academic Standards of Learnings.
Money raised will assist with the daily expenses incurred by the Zoo for fresh fruits and vegetable to feed and care for its entire animal collection.
JULY 2022
LEAP for Local Food
LEAP nurtures our food community. LEAP does this to create an equitable food and farming system which prioritizes health and abundance, and by supporting community initiatives, markets, farms, and farmers.
Funds raised will go toward supporting infrastructure projects and gardening supplies for four community gardens. funds will purchase compost, gardening tools, fence repairs, bed repairs, and gardening workshop materials.
AUGUST 2022
Cultural Arts for Excellence
CAFE is a comprehensive after school experience, founded on dance, drama, and music. Building on the unique vitality and cultural life of Roanoke’s Northwest community, CAFE strives to be a beacon for lifelong learning for those in Northwest and throughout the Roanoke Valley.
CAFE Kids after school program presents a unique opportunity to enrich a student’s academic achievement in a way that is fun and engaging. CAFE capitalizes on this through a strategic design that incorporates the arts as a fundamental approach to academic remediation.
Money raised with go toward nutritional and culinary arts classes at CAFE.
SEPTEMBER 2022
Sustainable Roanoke
Sustainable Roanoke educates, inspires, and empowers the community to achieve a sustainable lifestyle by sharing knowledge, increasing awareness, pooling resources, and promoting social equity.
Money raised will toward expenses for shipping and transporting hard to recycle items to companies that will turn trash into raw materials for reuse.
OCTOBER 2022
West End Community Dinners
West End Community Dinners is run by a group of community volunteers hosting monthly cookout dinners designed to build community. Free food, fun games, and good friends! Dinners start in May and culminate with a Thanksgiving Grab-and-Go dinner in November.
Money raised will go to help fund the Thanksgiving Grab-and-Go dinner in November.
NOVEMBER 2022
Roanoke Refugee Partnership
Roanoke Refugee Partnership helps specifically assigned refugee families in the Roanoke Valley with transportation, English language skills, tutoring, finding jobs, navigating the school and social services systems and drivers training.
Money raised will support RRP’s Summer Learning Program.
DECEMBER 2022
Virginia Childrens Theatre
Virginia Children’s Theatre (VCT) is an independently owned and operated 501c3 organization located in Roanoke, Virginia. VCT is the professional theatre in the commonwealth solely dedicated to youth, schools and their families.
VCT produces a variety of high caliber professional broadway-style musicals, concerts, and issue driven plays each season. These productions are produced here in the Roanoke Valley and toured throughout the commonwealth of Virginia. The VCT Theatre Academy provides year-round high-quality music, theatre and dance education for students Pre-K through 12th grade through our in-school residencies, in-house classes & camps and outreach across the commonwealth.
Funds raised will go to support free tuition for VCT’s education programs.