Subaru makes donation from ‘Share the Love’
Published 9:20 pm Thursday, May 17, 2018
Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia has earned $7,328.73 by participating in the 2017-2018 Subaru Share the Love event, which was held Nov. 16 through Jan. 2. The money will go toward the agency’s Meals on Wheels program, which provides fresh and nutritious home-delivered meals to residents ages 60 and over in South Hampton Roads and Western Tidewater.
Joyce Riddick, a participant at one of Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia’s senior center wellness and nutrition sites in Chesapeake, shares the key she decorated for the Share the Love event. Seniors were asked to decorate the key showing how the Meals on Wheels program has been key to helping them continue to live in their own homes. (Submitted photo)
“We are so excited about this,” said Shonya Anderson, wellness administrative supervisor with Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia. “Through this campaign, we were able to draw more community attention to the issue of senior hunger. In Virginia alone, more than 100,000 seniors struggle with hunger. Thanks to Subaru’s support, we’ll be able to help decrease that number a little more this year.”
Held at the end of each year, the Subaru Share the Love event donates $250 for every new Subaru vehicle sold or leased to the customer’s choice of charities, including national partners like the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Make-A-Wish, Meals on Wheels America and the National Park Foundation. During this event, Subaru of America Inc. donated $21.8 million. This year’s donations, along with a match of more than $2 million from Subaru retailers, brings the grand total amount donated throughout the life of the program to more than $118 million, exceeding the $115 million estimate predicted at the launch of the 2017 Share the Love event.
Of the $21 million donated, a total of $61,072.73 was given to nine qualifying Meals on Wheels of America member programs in Virginia, including the one run by Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia.
“At Subaru of America, we share a passion with our retailers and Subaru owners for positively impacting local communities nationwide, and nowhere is that more evident than through our annual Share the Love event,” said Alan Bethke, senior vice president of marketing for Subaru of America Inc. “We are incredibly proud to have donated more than $118 million to national and local organizations that benefit the causes our customers care most about throughout the life of this beloved campaign.”
