You Shop, They Score
By shopping at Times Supermarkets through Oct. 17, you can help Hawaii’s student-athletes score points for their schools share of $250,000 in Adidas uniforms and athletic equipment.
As the new school year brings with it the re-emergence of football, girls volleyball and other popular athletic opportunities student-athletes look forward to all summer long, administrators and parents have come to recognize it as Shop and Score season.
The annual Shop and Score program is back for its 17th year of assisting high school student-athletes and their athletic programs. Times Supermarkets, with the help of 19 food sponsors, is again making it possible for high schools on Kauaʻi, Oʻahu and Maui to earn a share of $250,000 in essential athletic uniforms and equipment. So far, the program has raised $2.25 million, and that figure is expected to maintain a positive trajectory in years to come.
“It’s extremely important for us as a pillar of the community to give back to the students, and we want to grow the program as much as possible,” says Chris Borden, senior director of marketing. “If we can get more sponsorships, and build those relationships, we’d love to grow it even bigger. We have no plans of ever eliminating this program.”
Through the Shop and Score program, each participating product purchased equates to one point. Upon checking out with the cashier, the customer can then choose a participating local high school for the points to be awarded to. Customers shopping at Times Super Markets and Big Save stores on Kauaʻi, Oʻahu and Maui can earn points for any participating public or private school via the purchase of designated products throughout the stores.
“From what I hear through conversations with athletic directors, most of them use the money to purchase new uniforms,” which typically carry high costs, says Tad Fujiwara, marketing manager at Times Supermarkets. “Before the inception of this program, some of the schools couldn’t get new uniforms as often as they would have liked. Now, some can purchase new uniforms for their teams every two to three years, whereas before it was every four to five years.
“Some athletic directors say it allows them to stretch their budgets further as things like transportation to and from games costs a lot of money,” added Fuji-wara when discussing the valuable funds generated through Shop and Score.
The extra money really helps a lot.
At the end of the program, which launched on Sept. 6 and runs through Oct. 17, each high school’s points are tallied and their percentage of the total points accumulated is determined. The schools are then awarded a correlated portion of the $250,000 in Adidas equipment and uniforms based on the determined percentage. The amount of equipment provided to schools has multiplied tenfold over the past 16 years after initially starting at $25,000 annually.
In addition to points earned through customers purchasing designated products, American Savings Bank will award $25,000 in scholarships to outstanding students from participating Shop and Score schools.
For more information about the Shop and Score program, and to view a complete list of applicable products and participating schools, log on to timessupermarkets.com/score.
While visiting the site, viewers also can get a weekly snapshot of the point breakdown (timessupermarkets. com/2017-scoreboard-shop-and-score). Waimea (8.26 percent), Farrington (6.37 percent), Castle (6.28 percent), KauaÊ»i (5.79 percent) and Lahainaluna (5.38 percent) high schools were leading the way in standings as of Sept. 19, but shoppers still have two more weeks to help their designated schools “score.”
“For the kids, athletics helps build character, leadership, sportsmanship and accountability values that we hold extremely important within our organization,” Borden says. “We want to give back to the community and have those values resonate with the youth. It’s a good thing to see our customers get behind the effort as well.”
Student-athletes Kayla Kurahashi and Noah Omori, and cashier Litheia Nakamoto, pose with some of the Shop and Score program’s participating products that are available at Times Supermarkets.
