Crown House of Gifts, located in Ann Arbor’s Traver Village shopping center, will be hosting a food drive from Monday to Friday. All food collected will go the Food Gatherers organization.
Food Gatherers is an Ann Arbor-based organization that sponsors food drives and distributes the collected items to various food pantries and other non-profit organizations in an effort to end hunger within the community. It sponsors many holiday food drives during the month of December.
Margaret Leftridge, manager of the Traver Village location, said it is the first year Crown of House Gifts has participated in a store-based food drive.
“It’s the first time we’ve done something like this, where the customers bring the actual cans into the store,” she said. “It’s something that the owner put together this year, to give back to the community.”
Thomas Ungrodt is the owner of Crown House of Gifts and president of Ideation Inc., a marketing solutions company founded in Michigan, geared toward gift stores like Crown House.
Crown House of Gifts, also a Michigan-based company, celebrated its 50th anniversary last year.
Leftridge spoke on Ungrodt’s behalf.
“It’s really important for the store to be a real part of the community,” she said. “The food drive allows us to help our customers help others.”
Customers will receive 10 percent off of an item in the store when they bring in a food item to the Crown House of Gifts, located off of Plymouth and Nixon roads.
“It has to be a non-perishable food item,” said Leftridge. Monetary donations to the Food Gatherers organization will not be accepted during this food drive, she explained.
According to a press release by Dane Jackson, Internet Marketing and Social Media Coordinator at Ideation, Inc., the food items most needed are canned meats, like tuna, as well as stews, soups, pasta, chili and beans.
They will also be collecting boxed pastas and baking mixes, non-perishable snacks, baby food and formula.
Many customers in the store on Saturday were unaware of the food drive, but one did lend her opinion.
Karin London, a former Eastern Michigan University student and small business owner, has been a customer of Crown House of Gifts since the Traver Village location opened.
“I’ve been coming here since the beginning, in the late 80s or early 90s,” London said. “I think it’s good when businesses do charity drives.”
As for the discount incentive, London said it would make no difference to her.
“If I know that a place I go to frequently is doing something like this, I do try to donate,” she said. “Sometimes I would just bring something in and donate it without buying anything. I wouldn’t necessarily do it just for the discount.”
London has participated in many other food and charity drives at various businesses. While she was previously unaware of Crown House of Gift’s food drive, she said she would “definitely keep it in mind.”
Customers can bring their canned food items to any store associate when they come in throughout the week. For every food item they donate, they will receive 10 percent off of an item of their choice with a limit of five items per person per day.
All of the food collected throughout the week will be donated directly to the Food Gatherers in Ann Arbor.
Leftridge suspects this will not be the last time Crown House of Gifts participates in a food drive, if this is a successful year.
“We’re hoping and expecting a good turn out,” she said. “Nothing like this can really be a failure, you know? It’s kind of a no-brainer; it helps Food Gatherers and the community, the customers and the store.”
