Local Walgreens Fight Child Poverty on a Global Scale

Red Nose Day provides an opportunity for local communities to fight child poverty on a global scale by getting seriously silly.

The local Walgreens locations in San Angelo are leading the charge to sell as many Red Noses and Red Flair merchandise as possible to reach the goal of raising $20 million dollars for the initiative.  

Exclusive to Walgreens stores, the proceeds from purchasing the Red Noses, Red Flair’s participating vendors’ products and cash donations will directly go towards the Red Nose Day Fund. This fund helps benefits kids in the U.S. and abroad.

Annette Chavez, store manager for the Sherwood Walgreens, mentioned what her store does to help with sales regarding charity events. The staff looks for effective ways of selling the merchandise both in and outside the store. These include fundraisers, pot lucks at store locations, and their truck days help with pushing the merchandise.

“When I have to push a company initiative, as a store manager, that’s what I do,” Chavez said. “I will stand behind my company to support any initiative, like child poverty, which, without a doubt, is very important.”

Chavez mentioned that being a parent of three, and having always worked for her family, it came to be natural that she would push to support the Red Nose Day Fund.

The initiative originally started in the UK over 30 years ago by an organization called Comic Relief. This organization wanted to take a stand against poverty by means of entertainment and showing the lighter side of a harsh situation. By working with its Walgreens sister company, Boots Pharmacy in the United Kingdom, the effort reached the United States. Walgreens contributed $8.7 million in 2015, and, along with NBC, over $23 million was raised for the fund. By reaching the goal of selling 15 million Red Noses, the goal for 2016 can be accomplished.

In District 364, at the 12 N. Abe St, Sherwood W and N Bryant stores, they have sold 1,834, 1,471, and 1,226 units of Red Noses respectively. That is $2,266 raised collectively just from the sales of Red Noses, and does not include shirts and Red Flair sales.  

Chavez mentioned Walgreens has been supporting the Red Nose Day fund for close to five years. NBC will be hosting a live 2-hour primetime television event today at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m. central time. This coverage will show various celebrities, comedians, musicians and other TV personalities supporting the initiative by being silly and quirky, but also showing America what can be done to help fight poverty.   

“We are hoping that after America views the special on T.V. that it will drive more sales for the Red Nose category,” Chavez said.

On the official Red Nose Day website, there is a chart listing different dollar values that can help with supporting children in poverty. One dollar can provide a meal for children in a shelter; $5 can get the antibiotics necessary to treat with pneumonia; and $15 can provide a child safe and secure shelter away from the streets for one week.  

Some of the charities that the Red Nose Day benefits are Feeding America, The Global Fund and Boys & Girls Clubs of America, to name a few.

Red Nose Day provides a chance for anybody in a community to help stand and fight growing poverty in the world.

Walgreens staff encourages people to have fun and participate in Seriously Silly Weekly Challenge on social media by sharing their stories while wearing Red Nose Day merchandise. This, along with local community fundraisers at schools, community centers and any other public locations, can help provide funding for the initiative.

Seriously Silly Weekly Challenges: (Facebook,Twitter,Instagram)

The Red Nose Fund also looks towards initiatives in education with school engagement. Red Nose USA is teaming up with Discovery Education, which is the leading provider of digital education in schools. The team at Discovery Education will create a custom virtual field trip (VFT) and curriculum to help raise awareness of poverty and how it impact the world.   

A Red Nose Day celebrity will lead the children through the VFT to help engage in meaningful discussions around issues of poverty and social responsibility. This part of the initiative was scheduled to begin in mid-May, according to the Red Nose Day information packet provided by Walgreens.

The fundraisers, social media coverage, and educational initiatives will help build awareness of what the community can do to help reduce child poverty across the world.