Because a lot of teachers work at the Pyro City Sioux Falls stores during summer break General Manager Kevin Lorenzen used their expertise working with the students to develop a successful charity program giving back to the local community.
At every store a portion of the proceeds from the purchase of Pro Punks benefits the organization called Feeding South Dakota. They’re BackPack Program provides at-risk children with nutritious, easy-to-prepare foods during weekends and holidays when school is not in session.
“We wanted to create a fundraiser that was connected to our local community and our teachers suggested the Feeding South Dakota BackPack Program to help reduce hunger right here in our own communities. This partnership has been a huge success and it is incredible to see just how many families this program impacts.”
The summer fundraising program was launched six years ago and has raised more than $14,000 throughout the years to benefit Feeding South Dakota’s BackPack Program.
Just in 2018, Pyro City and its customers raised nearly $2,000 to benefit Feeding South Dakota through the purchase of Pro Punks.
This fundraiser will continue and inspired a companywide fundraiser that was launched in 2018 in all of the Pyro City locations raising money for local food banks in eight states.
Feeding South Dakota whose mission is to eliminate hunger in South Dakota, is the state’s largest charitable hunger relief organization. In 2018, Feeding South Dakota secured and distributed more than 12.2 million pounds of quality nutritious donated and purchased food providing 10.2 million meals to more than 100,000 individuals in need. Feeding South Dakota is able to distribute this food from its distribution centers in Sioux Falls, Pierre and Rapid City and through its network of more than 400 charitable organizations, supporting over 555 partner agency programs across the state. These organizations then provide this food to individuals who are “food insecure” through youth programs, senior centers, on-site feeding programs, emergency food pantries, after school programs, and homeless shelters. https://feedingsouthdakota.org/