Food City to give $800,000 to area schools through School Bucks Challenge

ABINGDON, Va. (WJHL) — Food City kicked off its annual School Bucks Challenge on Wednesday to give back to Tri-Cities schools and is asking customers to help make sure their children benefit from it.

Food City announced it pledged $800,000 in contributions to area schools. The money will be divided up between schools based on which schools earn the most points through May 6, 2025.

Customers at Food City can earn points by using their Food City ValuCards. For each dollar spent using the cards, customers will earn a point.

Points earned can be credited to whichever school customers prefer by going online and linking the ValuCard to a school.

Schools will be allocated their portion of the $800,000 based on the percentage of customer purchases assigned to them.

Food City Special Events Coordinator Lisa Johnson said the program is a big help to schools and teachers.

“Teachers will call. They’re always in need,” Johnson said. “It’s just such a blessing to be able to give money back to these schools because these schools certainly need it. A lot of the teachers, they pay for a lot of the materials out of their own pockets, and so for us to be able to issue a check back to that school to help them, it’s certainly a blessing.”

Food City President and CEO Steven C. Smith stated in a news release that since the program began, the company has awarded nearly $23 million to area schools.

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