In 2013, our charitable foundation, Lewis & Raulerson – Friendly Express Charitable Foundation, whose mission is to support underserved children and families within our retail marketing footprint, also began focusing on another growing concern – mass hunger within our local communities.  With the assistance of our employees and local school counselors, “Feeding Families on Friday” was conceived.  “The program was not designed to be a short-term fund-raising effort but an ongoing commitment.  These funds have become a way-of-life for our pantries and food banks, many of whom continually struggle to meet the needs of their communities.  We would love to see other convenience store chains adapt a similar initiative.  Together, we can make a difference”, said Casey Hall, Executive Coordinator of Lewis & Raulerson, Inc.  

The program is simple: Every Friday, when customers buy ANY size fountain drink or coffee, the Foundation donates 10 cents for every cup sold.  100% of these funds are distributed to Food Pantries within each store’s respective county.

This program has allowed the Foundation, in addition to its many other charitable efforts, to donate nearly a quarter-of-a-million dollars to local food banks, pantries and soup kitchens since the “Feeding Families on Friday” initiative began.

The hunger burden continues to grow on our communities. “COVID-19 began as a public health and economic crisis, but it has now evolved into America’s worst hunger crisis in generations.  This has created a large burden for our local food pantries and soup kitchens.  We encourage everyone to come together and help fight the hunger crisis.  We need to support our local families now more than ever.” added David Turner, President of the family of companies.  

At the core of our foundation stands our commitment to making lives better for children and families in our community.  Lewis & Raulerson – Friendly Express Charitable Foundation, Inc. supports many charities throughout the year including:  Children’s homes, indigent and low-income medical support programs, area hospice organizations and local missions to name a few.