The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association joined Stater Bros. Charities at the Big Bear Stater Bros. Supermarket Thursday, April 17th, 2014, to celebrate another successful fundraising campaign benefiting the AHA/ASA mission of building healthier lives free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke. This year, Stater Bros. Charities exceeded their goal by raising an all-time record of $543,488 for the fight against heart disease and stroke, the No. 1 and No. 4 killers in the nation.

During the month of February each year, Stater Bros. customers at all 167 Stater Bros. Supermarkets purchase $1 red paper hearts and $5 gold paper hearts at the time of check out to support the AHA/ASA. Stater Bros. customers and employees have raised more than $4.3 million during the past 13 years of our partnership with the AHA/ASA. The funds raised during the campaign directly benefit the Southern California community in the form of AHA/ASA research grants, community education programs and health care quality improvement initiatives. 

"We are deeply grateful to Stater Bros. for their continued support of the AHA/ASA," said Mary Caldwell, Chair of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association's Western States Affiliate. "We have an aggressive goal of improving the cardiovascular health of all Americans by 20 percent while reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and stroke by 20 percent by the year 2020. The campaign is making a huge impact on these efforts by raising critical funds for cardiovascular research and reaching thousands of people every year with lifesaving information about heart disease and stroke."

"Heart disease and stroke affect a great number of people in the communities we serve," said Jack H. Brown, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Stater Bros. Supermarkets. "We are proud of what we raised this year in partnership with the AHA/ASA and look forward to many more years of saving lives from the leading causes of death in our community."