Macy’s wins second straight apple

How does a person bring 1,000-plus pounds of food to work?

That is exactly what associates from the Macy’s store in Kukui Grove did to earn top honors in the firm’s Bag Hunger 2007 campaign.

Michael Wirkkala, Chief Financial Officer of Macy’s West (region), was in the store Wednesday to present the award to associate Rowena Quisano and store manager Debbie Chuckas.

“I’m going to wait until we get a purple one,” Quisano said. “Last year, we got a gold-ish one and this year’s one is green.”

Quisano was talking about the crystalline apple that is the trophy for topping the Macy’s Bag Hunger program.

Last year, Macy’s topped the 166 stores in the firm’s Western region, Wirkkala said.

“The associates went out and outdid themselves this year to win, again,” he said. “This is a very giving place.”

Chuckas said modestly that they were able to win because they had a lot of associates at the time. But she acknowledged that the store’s associates as well as customers are very conscious of helping other people who need help.

“We’re gearing up for the Macy’s Community Shopping Day coming up Oct. 13,” Chuckas said.

In that promotion, shoppers buy passes from representatives of community groups for $5. That benefits the community groups directly, and shoppers reap the special discounts that are in effect for Oct. 13.

Chuckas said to win the Bag Hunger 2007 campaign, they were selected because they were tops in exceeding their targets. Macy’s Kukui Grove employees finished by turning in 127,307 pounds of food which amounted to 2004.8 percent to goal.

Breaking it down further, Chuckas said it came to about 1,002 pounds donated per associate.

As Kelvin Moniz accepted a check from Macy’s on behalf of the Kaua‘i Food Bank, the store’s associates were able to celebrate with special lunches from Kim Chee No. 9 while trying to figure out how to win the purple apple for Quisano.

“I can’t help it,” the associate said. “It’s my favorite color.”