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$4,000 in gift cards

Fareway donates to small businesses in Fort Dodge; Growth Alliance will distribute 80 cards

Fareway is once again helping Fort Dodge small businesses by providing $4,000 in gift cards.

The Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance will be distributing 80 gift cards to 80 of its members in the coming days. Each card is worth $50.

Chris Palm, manager of the Fort Dodge Fareway store, dropped the gift cards off to Jill Nelson at the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance on Wednesday. Nelson is community development director for the Growth Alliance.

“In an effort to help support local businesses, we are partnering with the Growth Alliance to provide gift cards to local small business owners,” Palm said. “This is a way to help small businesses that have had to shut down or there’s been reduced hours. Being an essential business, we are fortunate that we get to stay open and take care of everybody.”

Nelson is grateful for Fareway’s generosity.

“We feel very fortunate to have Fareway in the community and their generosity,” Nelson said. “Over the next few days we will be randomly selecting 80 of our (Growth Alliance) member businesses to receive these gift cards.”

The Growth Alliance has about 475 business members.

Nelson said the businesses can then spend the money however they wish.

This marks the second round of gift cards Fareway has given out in the last nine months. In May, $1,000 in gift cards were distributed to Fort Dodge businesses.

Nelson said businesses that received those gift cards spent the money in various ways.

“Some used the gift cards to provide lunch for everybody,” Nelson said. “Some of them personally used the gift cards to buy groceries and some paid it forward to someone in the community that they knew needed help. It was great to hear all of the stories from different businesses on how the cards were used. We are really excited to see the impact that $4,000 worth of gift cards will have and we appreciate the partnership.”

Nelson said this is just the latest example of the community working together in what has been a turbulent year for many.

“There has been so many examples of the community coming together during the pandemic and tough times for small businesses,” Nelson said. “Fareway’s generosity is just one example of that.”

Fareway, headquartered in Boone, has more than 12,000 employees in 123 stores across six states.

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