PLEASANTON, Calif. - (Business Wire) The U.S. Department of Labor presented Safeway Chairman, President and CEO Steve Burd with the Department
’s 2008 SPIRIT Award for his leadership in furthering employment and workplace opportunities for people with disabilities. Former Major League Baseball player, Jim Abbott, was named co-winner of the award. Mr. Abbott, a celebrated pitcher despite being born with only one hand, now works to raise awareness about the benefits and value that disabled employees bring to the workplace.
The SPIRIT award, presented today at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., is part of the Department of Labor’s New Freedom Initiative, which seeks to increase workplace opportunities and enhance workplace environments for people with disabilities. The award honors those who exhibit five key qualities that comprise the acronym “SPIRIT” — Strength in leadership, Perseverance in unyielding commitment to achieving success, Integrity, serving as a Role model, Independence and acting as a Trailblazer.
“I am deeply honored and proud to be among the Department’s SPIRIT award winners and particularly pleased to be sharing the recognition with Jim Abbott,” said Mr. Burd. “Assisting people with disabilities has long been an important part of what Safeway stands for in the community. We have worked hard to ensure that our company is a place where people with disabilities can find rewarding opportunities.”
Safeway currently employs nearly 10,000 people with intellectual and physical disabilities including hearing and sight impairments. Earlier this year during a launch event in the San Francisco Bay Area to kickoff the company’s annual campaign to support people with disabilities, Mr. Burd challenged employers in the region to “find a way to recruit from this largely untapped, but valuable talent pool.”
As part of the company’s employment outreach, Safeway maintains contact with a broad range of organizations and agencies that provide job placement and skills training to people with disabilities. The company’s human resource team keeps these agencies abreast of Safeway’s hiring needs as well as the skills necessary for being successful in a retail environment.
The SPIRIT Award is just one honor given to Mr. Burd and Safeway for their dedication to people with disabilities. Earlier this year, Easter Seals recognized Safeway for being the largest corporate sponsor of the organization. In 2007 The Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR) and The ARC (formerly the Association for Retarded Citizens) both recognized Safeway for its work in hiring people with disabilities.
Beyond this commitment to employment, Safeway is one of the largest contributors to charities associated with assisting people with disabilities. Twice yearly the company conducts companywide campaigns for the cause. In April Safeway raised $10.4 million for Easter Seals and Special Olympics. In August and September, the company raised $10 million for the Muscular Dystrophy Association. Over the years, Safeway has raised and donated more than $100 million to Easter Seals and related disability causes.
ABOUT SAFEWAY www.Safeway.com
Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America, based on sales. The company operates 1,738 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual sales of $42.3 billion in 2007. Safeway supports a broad range of charitable and community programs and in 2007 donated more than $172 million to important causes, such as cancer research, education, food banks and programs focused on assisting people with disabilities. Safeway is also one of the largest retail purchasers of wind energy, using 57 million kilowatt hours of wind energy, enough to power all 303 Safeway retail fuel stations, all stores in San Francisco, California and Boulder, Colorado, as well as all of the company headquarters and all corporate offices in Northern California. Safeway was the first major retailer to join the Chicago Climate Exchange, the world’s first and North America’s only legally binding GHG allowance trading system, and the California Climate Action Registry, which commits the company to reduce its carbon footprint by 6 percent from year 2000 levels.
Safeway has implemented unique energy-saving strategies throughout its manufacturing, distribution and grocery stores by installing new energy-efficient technologies, introducing new maintenance procedures and implementing new sustainable design and construction practices. Additional information about the company’s environmental programs can be found at www.Safeway.com. Click on “About Us” and “Going Green.”
Safeway’s common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY.
Safeway Inc.
Teena Massingill, 925-467-3810
