Hy-Vee to award $750,000 to schools

As the culmination of a year-long celebration of its 75th anniversary, Hy-Vee, Inc. will be awarding $750,000 to schools in the Midwest through its Smiles For Education program.

"So far this year, we've given away groceries, we've given away cars, we've given away tickets and other prizes, and we've even given away a $75,000 kitchen makeover," said Randy Edeker, vice president of marketing for Hy-Vee. "We've saved our biggest and best giveaway for last � three quarters of a million dollars to schools in our seven-state trade area. This is our way of celebrating a very special anniversary and saying thank you to the communities and families who have supported Hy-Vee for 75 years."

Customers nominate their favorite schools and students for a Smiles For Education award. Each week for the next 10 weeks, Hy-Vee will randomly select 10 winners � one from each of 10 geographic districts � and present a check for $7,500 to each school's general education fund. The students named on the winning entries will receive Apple iPod portable music players.

The program is open to any K-12 school, public or private, in Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota. Customers can obtain nomination forms at any Hy-Vee supermarket or Hy-Vee Drugstore, or they can visit www.hy-vee.com and download a form. The limit is one entry per person, per week; winners are drawn each Monday from the entries submitted the previous week.