Press Release

Hy-Vee, Inc., 5820 Westown Parkway, West Des Moines, IA 50266

Contact: Rich Schneider- Communications Intern

Phone: (515) 559-5732  E-mail: rschneider@hy-vee.com

June 20, 2011

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Omaha Hy-Vee and Open Door Mission unveil store-side garden

Omaha, NE – Hy-Vee, at 14591 Stony Brook Blvd., is unveiling a store-side garden to provide fresh vegetables for customers, and education and work experience for homeless men from the Open Door Mission’s Garland Thompson Men’s Center.

Thanks to the help of local sponsors and workers from the Men’s Center, the 15,000 square foot, garden will include flowers, tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and onions. The produce will be sold by the Stony Brook Hy-Vee, with sales going to the Open Door Mission in Omaha.

The Men’s Center will send two or three men with a shift supervisor out to Hy-Vee about two to three times a week to care for the garden. They will pull weeds, construct fences, maintain pest control, harvest fresh produce and keep the garden safe and clean for customers, said Hy-Vee Store Director Jeff Mueller. The men will receive a wage for their work from the Open Door Mission.

Hy-Vee and the Open Door Mission have always had a strong relationship, said, Richard DenHerder, Open Door Mission’s CFO.

“This project will provide the men with recent work experience and we should be able to give them a reference,” DenHerder said. The men will also experience working under a supervisor and gain on-the-job training.

The garden, landscaped by Diamond Cut Lawns, will invite people in with a brick and mortar entryway and a decorative sign from Integrity Weld and Sign It of Omaha. The plants and flowers are from two Iowa greenhouses, Red Oak Greenhouse and Krieger Greenhouse. To keep everything fresh and hydrated, Plush Lawn Irrigation, of Omaha, has installed the irrigation system.

Mueller and Hy-Vee Lawn and Garden Manager, Mark Montanye, are proud to be a part of the project. “This is just another example of Hy-Vee being a part of the community,” Mueller said.

Between all of the sponsored supplies, landscaping and the workers from the Men’s Center, the overall cost for the garden will be relatively low.

Montanye believes the Open Door Mission will especially benefit. “We should raise a lot of money for them in the end,” he said.

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Hy-Vee, Inc. is an employee-owned corporation operating 232 retail stores in eight Midwestern states. For 2010 the company recorded total sales of $6.9 billion, ranking it among the top 30 supermarket chains and the top 50 private companies in the United States. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.hy-vee.com