The West Virginia Oil Marketers & Grocers Association (OMEGA) raised $154,258 during their Every Child Deserves a Loving Home Mother’s Day Campaign to help children across the state dealing with crisis in the family.
“West Virginians take care of their own; particularly our children,” said Traci Nelson, President of OMEGA. “We are very thankful that our convenience store members were able to raise this money to assist the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia in helping our most vulnerable population. We appreciate the public’s incredible spirit of generosity and desire to help children in need of adoption and families in crisis.”
Nelson said brightly-colored, Mother’s Day themed, paper flowers were sold at hundreds of OMEGA-member convenience and grocery stores statewide, including Little General Stores, Inc., Go Mart, Par Mar Stores, BFS Foods, DeFazio Oil Company, City Ice & Fuel, and R. M. Roach & Sons.
Mary White, Chief Operating Officer of the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia, said, “Our Mission is to protect children and strengthen families. OMEGA provides the funding and other resources to help make a difference in the lives of thousands of children every year. They are committed to West Virginia’s most vulnerable and they make a difference in our communities statewide.”
White said funds will be used for the organization’s efforts to find foster and adoptive homes for children, to assist the emergency child shelters, and to support their resource centers.
Since 2003, OMEGA has raised over $3.6 million for charities benefiting children in West Virginia; $1.8 million of that has gone to support the Children’s Home Society of West Virginia.
