Kum & Go Builds Upon Habitat for Humanity Partnership

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — Kum & Go LC kicked off a national effort to support its partnership with Habitat for Humanity, now in its second year.

The month-long campaign will include a corporate donation and in-store fundraising. Through donations, Kum & Go customers will help select a community in which the retailer will sponsor the construction of a new Habitat home.

Kum & Go has committed a $100,000 corporate gift to support Habitat's mission for 2015. Customers can join the effort throughout April by adding a $1 Habitat donation to their in-store purchases, or by purchasing a Kum & Go 24-ounce coffee mug with coffee or a 20-ounce bottle of Kum & Go water. Kum & Go will donate $1 per coffee mug and 10 cents per water bottle purchased to Habitat for Humanity in addition to sponsoring a Habitat project in the region that raises the most money as a percentage of customer traffic through its stores.

"Habitat provides a great partnership for Kum & Go," said Kum & Go President and CEO Kyle J. Krause. "This is a wonderful team effort that we are very proud of involving and connecting our customers, our company, our associates and the communities we serve."

Last year, Kum & Go with its customers raised more than $450,000 for Habitat for Humanity's affordable housing work and sponsored a Habitat home in Minot, N.D. The family who partnered in the construction of the Minot home is slated to move in over the next few weeks.

"This partnership exceeded our expectations last year, and we're excited to launch this initiative with Kum & Go again," said Colleen Finn Ridenhour, deputy director of corporate, foundation and institutional relations at Habitat for Humanity International. "Kum & Go has a long history of charitable giving in the communities it serves, and it's wonderful how their associates and their customers get involved to help low-income families create affordable housing."

West Des Moines-based Kum & Go is the fifth-largest, privately held and company-operated convenience store chain in the United States. It operates 430 convenience stores in 11 states: Iowa, Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Wyoming. The retailer shares 10 percent of its annual profits with charitable causes.