Every 'Ka-Ching' Going to Food Bank

Seven Stars Bakery in the Rumford Center – all of the bakery chain’s three stores, actually -- continued an anniversary-day community-giving effort on Wednesday. 

Every Jan. 2, the day the bakery opened its first Providence store back in 2001, the owners donate 100 percent of their thousands of dollars in sales to the Rhode Island Community Food Bank.

“Some of the staff also donate their tips,” said Leah Bartwell, office and wholesale manager for Seven Stars Bakery.

Owners Lynn and Jim Williams began the "anniversary give back" in 2006, said Bartwell. They have raised more than $60,000 for the food bank over the years.

“We give back because we are so community based and local,” Bartwell said. “We feel that the community gives so much to us.” 

The location in East Providence opened more than three years ago. It was the first retail location in the former Rumford Baking Powder complex that was renovated into office and retail space on the corner of Newman and Greenwood Street. 

Giving back is simply part of Seven Star’s culture. The three stores donate all of their leftover products at the end of each day to local food pantries and shelters.

Seven Stars also donates “oodles of gift cards each year to local charity auctions and raffles,” according to its website, and it makes cash donations to organizations that enrich each community. 

In the fall of 2012, Seven Stars also launched a new program called Community Giving Days. On the first Tuesday of each month, the bakeries donate a portion of their sales on those days to a charity selected that month.

Yesterday, every nickel and dime spent at Seven Stars will end up at the RI food bank.

Click here for more information about Seven Stars and its community giving program.