King Soopers donates $15K to Parker food bank after viral plastic bag post

PARKER, Colo. (KDVR) — After a post jokingly selling a King Soopers plastic bag went viral, a snowball effect has led to a large donation to a Parker food bank.

Last month FOX31 reported on a King Soopers bag that went viral after it was put up for sale on Facebook Marketplace. The seller, Justin Mauk, posted it as a joke, calling the bag “vintage,” nudging at the plastic bag outlaw in the state. A friend of Mauk’s, Bonnie Klehm, saw the post and told him she would buy it if they found a worthy cause to donate the money to.

“We just did it as a joke and we never imagined that it was going to turn into something like this,” Klehm said.

They landed on Secor Cares , a local food bank in Parker. The story gained enough traction that King Soopers reached out to FOX31 to get involved. This led to Friday when they presented a $15,000 check to Secor.

“In Colorado, 1 in 9 people are hungry and 1 in 7 children have a need for food, and so it’s exciting when we get to partner together and make a difference,” said King Soopers Group Vice President Chris Albie.

Funds will support free food market, mobile unit

The check presentation was inside Secor’s free food market, the organization’s main program in fighting food insecurity, but they also do it on the road. The $15,000 will go toward upgrading the Mobile Market to install a refrigerator unit inside. The Mobile Market truck is used for community members who cannot make it to the Secor building.

Lisa Long with Secor Cares said the upgrade is highly needed to meet the community’s hunger needs.

“At this time, we have not had refrigeration on our mobile market, and that has always been a dream of ours so we could extend our services and extend our times out on the roads serving those who need it the most, so we are so appreciative to King Soopers and to our very good friends, Justin and Bonnie,” Long said.

And it’s not just the check going toward Secor’s efforts. King Soopers is also donating 1,600 reusable bags for the mobile and free food markets.

Mauk and Klehm were also honored after the check presentation. King Soopers named them honorary “Zero Heroes.”

“Internally we have a tradition of recognizing our associates who do things that significantly impact our mission of ending hunger and waste in our community,” said Jessica Trowbridge with King Soopers, who presented the awards.

What started as a joke to spread joy has in return spread more joy than ever anticipated. Klehm and Mauk said they are proud to be a part of it.

“I just hope that people benefit from this and Secor benefits from this. They are an amazing organization and they’ve helped out so many people in this community and it just makes me so happy that we could be a part of it,” Klehm said.

“Life’s short; have fun, do cool stuff and be the reason somebody has a good day,” Mauk said.

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