The family-owned grocery store Three Bears Alaska hosted its third annual “Shop with a Purpose” event on Dec. 12, raising nearly $112,000 for food banks and community organizations throughout the state. The stores donated 10% of all grocery sales and 5% of fuel sales from each of its 21 locations.
Three Bears Alaska donated $15,432.44 to the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank in Soldotna, thanks to donations from the store’s Kenai, Sterling and Ninilchik locations. Executive director Johna Beech said the funds will help feed residents throughout the Kenai Peninsula and aid in the food bank’s operating costs, such as utilities, payroll and vehicle maintenance.
“In 2025, we distributed 1.4 million pounds of food to the Kenai Peninsula,” Beech said in a Jan. 13 email to the Clarion. “We are so very blessed to have this community’s support and could not do what we do without it.”
According to a press release from the store, customers embraced the idea of shopping in a single day after realizing what a huge impact their actions could make. The event began in 2023 as a grassroots idea from Three Bears Alaska management, and donations have doubled since then.
“We’re an Alaskan grown company,” Three Bears Director of Marketing Cheryl Metiva said in a Jan. 9 phone call to the Clarion. “We’ve been here since 1980, so we’ve seen Alaska through the growth and the ebbs and the flows. We’re all Alaskans that work here and own the company. We shop and live alongside our customers, and we want to support the communities that support us.”
The store donated to 14 organizations in towns with Three Bears locations. Communities as far north as Fairbanks and south to Butte, Montana received anywhere from a couple hundred to several thousand dollars, with the largest donation going to the Mat-Su Food Bank in Wasilla. Metiva said the amount and size of stores within each community affected the donation amount.
To find a Three Bears location near you, visit threebearsalaska.com.
