Letter from Donny Rouse

Donny Rouse, CEO, 3rd Generation

Our spirit shines bright this holiday season.

Despite a tough year, we have a lot to be thankful for.

The Gulf Coast continues to show up for each other and our communities like no one else. A food relief effort lead by chefs, cooks and volunteers helped us distribute thousands of free hot meals at Rouses Markets in the days and weeks following Hurricane Ida. It’s amazing how much a hot meal, a cold drink and a smile from one neighbor to the next can help.

Our network of vendor partners also went above and beyond after Ida — as they always do in times of crisis. They donated essential supplies, and helped us deliver truckloads of food and water to food banks, food pantries, churches, charities and community care efforts. And our customers also helped us collect much-needed food items at our stores, which the food banks distributed.

Months after the storm, we continue to help each other get back on our feet.

We started an Ida Disaster Relief Fund for our team members who suffered losses to their homes and personal belongings, just like we did after hurricanes Sally and Laura, and after the floods in Baton Rouge and Denham Springs. Our company seeded the fund with a $100,000 donation, and we received an outpouring of support from vendors and customers like you who also wanted to help. We have already doubled the money in our Disaster Relief Fund, which is helping our team members rebuild, and we continue to receive generous donations, for which we are grateful. There are more fundraising efforts in the works, too.

We are also grateful, as we are every year, for the opportunity to share the holidays with you.

Here’s to a brand new year – we’re looking forward to it!

----------------

IDA DISASTER RELIEF FUND

We set up our Disaster Relief Fund to help our Rouses team members who are victims of disasters like Hurricane Ida. If you would like to join us in supporting the fund, visit https://employees1st.org/rouses. Your donation is tax deductible, and 100% of it will go to our team members in need.