Merry Christmas, Everyone!
More than that, a big, big thank you from your local Ace Hardware store.
Thank you for your generosity this holiday season. By shopping your local Rocky Mountain area Ace Hardware stores, you helped us raise approximately $275,000 for Colorado Children’s Hospitals through Children’s Miracle Network.
How did we do this? A variety of ways. We had our second annual fund-raising event just weeks ago where we raised over $51,000. In September, we had our first Miracle on the Rocks stair climb event at Red Rocks Amphitheater where we raised over $10,000. Our stores often collect your generosity by rounding up your change to the nearest dollar. It’s amazing how twelve cents here and fifty-seven cents there really adds up. There have also been products that we sell throughout the year where part of the sale goes to CMN.
This is all part of shopping locally and keeping the money that you spend spinning through our communities and helping everyone.
But Brad, Ace Hardware stores are just part of a chain, right?
No, Ace Hardware stores are not chain stores.
In 1924 a bunch of hardware stores in the Chicago area got together and formed a coop to help them source products. They all bought a bit of the company and named it Ace Hardware. They shared a warehouse, trucks to deliver goods and eventually the name on the store front. This helped them buy better, compete in the marketplace and gave them better customer support. Each store buys a small part of the company and the company works for the stores. The stores in your neighborhood are not corporate-owned chain stores or franchises. There’s nobody in a glass tower in some big city telling your neighborhood store what to do or when to do it.
Great, Brad, but what does that mean to me?
That means that your neighborhood store is owned and operated by your neighbors. Each store is owned by a local entrepreneur who wanted to start a business in their back yard for their community. So, when you’re shopping at Ace Hardware you are shopping local. Your friends, neighbors and your local Children’s Hospital benefit directly from you shopping at Ace Hardware stores.
Thanks for shopping locally and, even more so, thank you for helping us donate to Children’s Miracle Network and help thousands of kids who are in need of care, often extended and special care that can only be found at a children’s hospital.
From all of us at Ace Hardware, and from myself, Brad Nale, warmest wishes for a very merry Christmas and a wonderful holiday season to you.