Platinum Champion FOR Children’s Spotlight: Tops Friendly Markets
As a Platinum Corporate Champion FOR Children’s, Tops Friendly Markets has a long and dedicated relationship with Oishei Children’s Hospital (OCH). They regularly sponsor events run by OCH, including the Festival of Trees, Kaleida Ball, many different golf tournaments, 2022’s Over the Edge and many more. In fact, over the course of our 40-year partnership, Tops has raised over $10 million for the hospital!
We’re happy to celebrate this close partnership and look back on the many successful campaigns that provide much-needed funding FOR the kids of WNY!
Annual Children’s Miracle Network Campaigns
Tops has been a corporate sponsor through Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals) since 2004, running many campaigns over the years in support of OCH. Their annual CMN Hospitals Balloon campaign recently finished its 2023 run on July 18. This summertime campaign encourages customers to purchase balloons or round up their total at the register to benefit OCH and has been a great source of fundraising and a wonderful connection to our community.
Golf Tournament & Celebrity Putting Contest
Tops’ annual golf tournament and celebrity putting contest went off without a hitch on July 16 and 17!
There to participate in the putting contest and help kick off the tournament were 18 OCH patients and their families. Patients were paired with local celebrities (including Scooby-Doo and Batman!) as they competed to get the lowest score in this contest.
Following the putting contest, Tops presented OCH with the proceeds from the tournament – $525,000!
Buffalo News Kids Day
Kids Day dates back to 1984, encouraging kids to take to the streets and hawk papers to benefit both OCH and Cradle Beach, an organization serving disabled and challenged children throughout Western New York.
Tops has supported Kids Day for years, but truly stepped up to the plate as the event took on a new form in 2022. By holding the event at 44 Tops locations, volunteers connected with those in the community at one of the most commonly-visited places for the average household – the grocery store.
Tops also contributed financially to this event to bring the lifetime amount raised over $5 million!
Gas & Groceries
In the fall, Tops regularly organizes their Gas & Groceries campaign, where the purchase of a $1 ticket gives you a chance to win $10,000 in gift cards for gas and groceries purchased in the stores. Proceeds from this campaign go directly to OCH.
Since this campaign started in 2006, more than $1.25 million has been raised to benefit the kids at OCH!
Safe Sleep Partner
Newborn infants can sleep over 16 hours in a single day, making safe sleep habits formed by their caregivers extremely important to their health. Safe sleep includes placing babies alone, with no blankets, stuffed animals or bumpers in a crib and on their back to allow for the safest environment.
In 2022, Tops Friendly Markets joined Oishei Children’s Hospital and Millard Fillmore Suburban Hospital (MFSH) in the Safe Sleep campaign, an effort to disseminate information across all of Western New York on safe sleep habits for infants. As part of this partnership, Tops has already hosted multiple pop-up events at their stores in order to spread safe sleep habits with the community.
We want to express our utmost gratitude towards Tops, their leadership team, employees and customers for supporting the kids at Oishei Children’s Hospital – thank you!