Coca-Cola and Stater Bros, southern California’s largest privately held supermarket chain, said they raised $716,400 in the latest six-week installment of their Preserve our Parks Campaign.

 

The money will be donated to the California State Parks Foundatoin to help preserve 750,000 acres of state parks in Southern California in time for the summer season. Preserve our Parks Campaign is focused on preserving Malibu Creek State Park and Topanga State Park in Los Angeles County; Huntington Beach, San Clemente and Crystal Cove State Parks in Orange County; Anza-Borrego, Cuyamaca Rancho and Carlsbad State Parks in San Diego County; Silverwood Lake and Chino Hills in San Bernardino County; and Lake Perris and Mount San Jacinto in Riverside County.


California State Parks is the largest park system in the country and serves over 75 million visitors annually. But the state’s budget crisis and raising costs forced it to announced plans in May to start closing 70 of its 278 state parks beginning this fall. Ten of those are in Southern California.

 

The private sector commitment to preserve Southern California State Parks will give millions of Californians a cleaner, safer summer, says Ruth Coleman, director of California State Parks. We are very appreciative of our partnership with Stater Bros. and Coca-Cola, whose efforts for the past three years have had a tremendous, beneficial impact on our state park system at a time when we need it most.”

This is the third year that Coca-Cola and Stater Bros. have initiated an environmental stewardship program to benefit California State Parks.

Last year’s Care For Our Coast campaign raised funds to preserve 5 million feet of coastline, and the 2009 Reforest California campaign planted one million trees in wildfire-scarred Southern California state parks. In three years, Coca-Cola and Stater Bros. have raised a total of $1.86 million for California State Parks.


The campaign was funded by tax-deductible shopper donations at Stater Bros. as well contributions from a percentage of participating Coca-Cola sales donated by Coca-Cola Refreshments.

 

In addition to the funds raised for Southern Californias parks, Preserve Our Parks sponsored the State Parks Earth Day clean-up and restoration event at Huntington Beach State Park on April 16, 2011 where 1,100 volunteers picked up trash and removed 38,000 pounds of non-native, invasive plants. The clean-up effort was the largest one-day volunteer event in the history of the California State Parks system and included hundreds of employees from Stater Bros. and Coca-Cola.

Founded in 1936 in Yucaipa, CA, Stater Bros. has grown steadily through the years to become the largest privately owned Supermarket Chain in Southern California and the largest private employer in both San Bernardino County and Riverside County, with annual sales in 2010 of $3.6 billion. The Company currently operates 167 Supermarkets, and there are over 18,000 members of the Stater Bros. Supermarket Family. Stater Bros. was recently honored as a 2010 WRAP (Waste Reduction Awards Program) Winner by the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery (CalRecycle) for its environmentally friendly programs and recycling efforts. Throughout the year 2011, Stater Bros. is celebrating 75 years of proudly serving Southern California Families.