IGA ANNOUNCES HOMETOWN PROUD MARKETING EVENT

CHICAGO, IL - IGA today announced the second annual Hometown Proud marketing event will be held in participating IGA stores across the country April 25-May 8, 2004. The marketing event serves the dual purpose of promoting the necessity of fire safety education, while honoring the heroism of those who keep our IGA communities on the leading edge of fire prevention.

For Hometown Proud 2004, IGA has partnered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help communicate the IGA event to fire houses across America. Red Oval Family partners Kraft Foods, The Coca-Cola Company, Campbell Soup Company, LEGO Systems, Inc., and Timex Corporation will be sponsoring the marketing event.

“Volunteer fire departments are a way of life in many of our IGA areas,” said IGA Area Director George Beaver. “In some cases, the same person who bags your groceries is the person who saves your house, or your life, when a fire breaks out. This marketing event is designed to help these heroes spread the word about fire safety. In the end we’ll see ordinary citizens taking the time to arm themselves with knowledge, making them heroes in their own right. We foresee that Hometown Proud 2004 could actually lead to annual fire safety weeks in all IGA towns across America,” he said.

The event is centered around the Hometown Proud 2004 essay contest. The contest asks families in 200 words or less to answer the essay question "How Does Your Hometown Proud Family Contribute to Community Fire Safety?" One Grand Prize winning family will receive a trip to Walt Disney World, Orlando, Fla., in October. Seven first place winning families will receive open ended ticket packages (one per IGA Region) to the Grand Ole Opry and Opryland Hotel, Nashville, Tenn., as well as $1,000 donations to local firefighters in each winner's area. In addition, LEGO will award 10 special LEGO "Firefighter" prizes to each of IGA's seven Regions, to be awarded by random drawing to consumers who submit essay contest entries.

“The number of people who lose their lives or are injured by fire each year paints a very tragic picture in this nation,” U.S. Fire Administrator R. David Paulison said. “It is our sincere hope that projects like this will help to create an awareness to the dangers of fire, and what each of us can do to protect our lives, the lives of our neighbors and the lives of our firefighters who respond to emergencies throughout the country.”

IGA, the only global supermarketer based in the United States, is the world’s largest voluntary supermarket network with aggregate worldwide retail sales of more than $21 billion per year. The Alliance includes more than 4,000 Hometown Proud Supermarkets worldwide, supported by 36 distribution companies and more the 55 major manufacturers, vendors and suppliers encompassing everything from grocery to equipment items. IGA ranks in the top 10 in world food supermarketing. IGA has operations in 48 of the United States and more than 40 countries, commonwealths and territories on all six inhabited continents.