Local organizations, Hy-Vee partner together

Submitted photo
Hy-Vee store director Travis Buysee, second from left, presented a $400 check to the United Way recently.

Travis Buysee enjoys helping out the Maryville and area community whenever the chance presents itself.

The store director at the Maryville Hy-Vee is often asked to make donations for various projects such as After Prom, where in the past gifts of various amounts were created and then handed out as prizes.

The feeling of wanting to do more to help out still stuck with Buysee and he has found a way to accomplish that.

The grocer is selling $5 coupon books that features $70 worth of coupons, which will benefit local organizations. For each one sold at the store, $2 will go to a charity until they reach the cap of 200.

So far, checks for $400 have been given to the United Way, the Maryville Band Boosters and the Rotary Club. The current benefactor will be the Nodaway County 4-H.

If an organization does the leg work and sell them, it gets $3 per book. Buysee noted an area little league baseball team just took home a check for $750 for their work.

“I thought, what if we just picked groups in the community that does good for the Maryville community and give back that way,” Buysee said. “It has been a seamless process. The community giving back to the community.”

He initially slated each organization to have a target date of a month to reach the $400 check, but brisk sales have meant about a two-week stay at the register before a new organization comes in for the donation.

There is currently a wait list now to become part of this program.

The original order of 2,000 is down to around 800. The current booklet has discounts on some of the most purchased items in the store, like $50 cents of a loaf of bread or milk to a free pound of bananas. There is also a $5 off a $75 order, which would pay for the coupon book, Buysee said.

“I don’t want to put coupons in there that no one will use,” he said.

The next round of coupon books will be a little different, aimed at the store’s fuel saver program, say a loaf of bread will net a $5 cent discount.

“We are always looking at ways to partner up and give back to the community and we have been doing it for years,” Buysee said.