Safeway Launches Chain-Wide Holiday Giving Campaign

PLEASANTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Safeway Inc., (NYSE:SWY) is launching a series of regional campaigns designed to provide food, toys and other services to the needy in the company’s operating territory. The food drives will serve more than 2 million meals to families in need during the holidays. In all, the company is:

• Conducting more than 40 regional food drives
• Sponsoring 18 major toy drives
• Collecting thousands of coats in communities throughout the United States and Canada.

“Now more than ever, helping individuals and families during the holidays and throughout the year is a critical part of Safeway’s community-based initiatives,” said Executive Vice President and Safeway Foundation Chair Larree Renda. “Given the current economic climate and the growing need, we are picking up the pace of our regional campaigns designed to provide an opportunity for our employees and customers to pitch in and make the holidays a little better for people in need.”

The campaigns come at time of the year when community organizations, particularly local food banks and hunger relief centers, have been stretched to capacity. In 2008, Safeway will provide more than $110 million in products and donations to these critical programs, making the company one of the largest supporters of hunger relief outreach in North America.

Safeway’s initiative includes a broad range of regionally driven efforts at stores in 21 states, the District of Columbia and Canada under the Vons, Pavilions, Dominick’s, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Genuardi’s, Carrs, Pak ‘n Save and Safeway banners. Safeway employees and customers support the various efforts through donations and volunteer activities to help their local charities. Some of the local campaigns include:

East Coast: The 9^th Annual Safeway Feast of Sharing will provide nearly 5,000 needy residents in the District of Columbia with more than just a warm turkey dinner the day before Thanksgiving; the event also features a job fair, health screenings, free flu shots and donated clothing. In another important outreach program, more than 140 Safeway stores along the East Coast will raise money for Neediest Kids, Inc., an organization that works with local schools to provide food, clothing and eyeglasses to children and families in distress.

Northern California: As part of Safeway’s “End Hunger Now” campaign, its Bay Area stores will be equipped with multiple donation barrels throughout the store to encourage customers to donate food items for one of the nine Bay Area Food Banks. Shoppers in the region can make a donation at any of the check stands or simply add an extra can or bag of dry goods to the donation barrel to make a positive impact this holiday season.

Chicago: Dominick’s will roll out hundreds of food collection barrels and deck its stores with Depository Dollars for their annual Dominick’s & ABC 7 Chicago Holiday Food Drive to benefit the Greater Chicago Food Depository. This year’s goal is to raise the equivalent of more than 1 million pounds of food. Stores are also collecting cash donations for the Greater Chicago Food Depository by selling Depository Dollars, available at the check-out counters of any Chicagoland Dominick’s store in $1, $2 and $5 denominations.

Denver: Local news stations turned out on November 17 to cover the largest turkey donation the Denver Rescue Mission has received this year — 50,000 pounds of turkey contributed by Safeway’s Denver division. The donation completely filled a refrigerated big-rig tractor trailer. The company’s regional stores will also continue their support of the Volunteers of America by supplying more than 4,000 food baskets and hams over the December holiday.

Texas: Safeway’s Tom Thumb and Randalls stores focus holiday outreach on children in need of life-saving medical treatment. Austin area stores are a major sponsor of the “Any Baby Can” Candlelighters Childhood Cancer Program, which provides comprehensive care to children undergoing cancer treatments. Customers are invited to “Light a Candle for Hope” by purchasing a candle card at check out. The candles are then hung on a Christmas tree to illustrate the support. Stores in Dallas sponsor one of the largest toy drives in the nation, the Santa’s Helpers Toy Drive, which has raised more than 1.2 million toys for needy children. In Houston, Randalls employees hope to break their collection record of 46,000 toys in a toy drive that benefits the Salvation Army.

Arizona: Safeway is a lead sponsor of the “Million Can Crusade,” a campaign to collect nonperishable food for the St. Vincent de Paul food banks. Stores in the region are also focusing on the needs of the elderly in the community by partnering with the Salvation Army and the Arizona Food Industry to collect and distribute items for more than 6,000 senior citizens and needy families in the community.

Hawaii: Stores are joining forces with all of the Hawaii food banks throughout the state for the “Check Out Hunger” campaign, the largest fundraiser for the food banks in Hawaii. Last year, Safeway customers and employees helped raise $100,000 to help purchase food for those in need during the holiday season.

Washington, Alaska, Idaho and Montana: Safeway stores are working with food banks, high schools, Boy Scout troops and churches to gather and distribute food for the holidays. In Western Washington, customers can purchase a certificate to donate a ham to a person or family in need. Local food banks deliver the hams throughout the community.

Portland: Portland area stores are providing coats and toys this holiday season. The stores recently launched their holiday season outreach efforts with a popular one-day “Truck Load of Coats” drive to collect warm coats and other clothing. In just 24 hours, Safeway customers and employees donated 8,500 coats and other items, making it an all-time record.

Southern California: Earlier this month, Safeway’s Vons and Pavilions division kicked off its holiday season with their “Tackling Hunger Food Drive,” which benefits the Ventura County FoodShare. The campaign runs through the end of the year. Additional food drives are taking place throughout the Southland to benefit such worthy hunger relief agencies as Para Los Niños in Los Angeles County, San Diego Food Bank, the Food Bank of Santa Barbara County and the Bakersfield Rescue Mission.

Canada: Throughout Canada, Safeway continues to be a major partner in several important holiday outreach programs to benefit the needy. The popular “Operation Christmas Child” campaign will collect over 85,000 gift-filled shoeboxes for children in need throughout the world. Safeway works with numerous government and media volunteers to help raise the profile of the program and the needs in less fortunate third world countries. The value of the toys and money raised equals about $300,000. This is in addition to the “Fill Up Food Bank” fundraiser in British Columbia, which is expected to raise $100,000 during a one-day blitz event.

The Season of Giving campaign is Safeway’s final fundraising and outreach initiative for 2008, a year in which Safeway raised and donated more than $183 million for hunger relief, cancer research, education, programs for people with disabilities and other worthy programs.

ABOUT SAFEWAY www.Safeway.com

Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America, based on sales. The company operates 1,738 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual sales of $42.3 billion in 2007. Safeway supports a broad range of charitable and community programs and in 2007 donated more than $172 million to important causes, such as cancer research, education, hunger relief and programs focused on assisting people with disabilities. Safeway is also one of the largest retail purchasers of wind energy, using 57 million kilowatt hours of wind energy, enough to power all 303 Safeway retail fuel stations, all stores in San Francisco, California and Boulder, Colorado, as well as all of the company headquarters and all corporate offices in Northern California. Safeway was the first major retailer to join the Chicago Climate Exchange, the world’s first and North America’s only legally binding GHG allowance trading system, and the California Climate Action Registry, which commits the company to reduce its carbon footprint by 6 percent from year 2000 levels.

Safeway has implemented unique energy-saving strategies throughout its manufacturing, distribution and grocery stores by installing new energy-efficient technologies, introducing new maintenance procedures and implementing new sustainable design and construction practices. Additional information about the company’s environmental programs can be found at www.Safeway.com. Click on “About Us” and “Going Green.”