Oak Brook, Ill.,
14
September
2016
|
06:30 AM
America/Chicago

Matt Mazzone named 2016 Ace Hardware ‘All-Star Retailer’

Owner of Brooklyn-based Mazzone Ace Hardware receives third annual award from the Ace Hardware

The Ace Hardware Foundation is pleased to announce that Matt Mazzone, owner of Mazzone Ace Hardware in Brooklyn, N.Y., has been named the 2016 Ace All-Star Retailer. This national award honors one Ace retailer annually for his or her extraordinary fundraising, leadership skills, innovation and commitment to Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals (CMN Hospitals) – Ace’s national philanthropy of choice. Mazzone was nominated by his local CMN Hospital, Cohen Children’s Medical Center, and was recognized in front of thousands of his peers at Ace’s annual convention on Aug. 18.

“We are proud to recognize Matt Mazzone as Ace’s third-annual All-Star Retailer,” said Kane Calamari, President of the Ace Hardware Foundation. “Not only has Matt been instrumental in raising funds for his local hospital, Cohen Children’s Medical Center, but he has also been a visionary catalyst within our organization spurring incredible fundraising growth across the entire Ace enterprise.”

Mazzone was selected as the 2016 All-Star Retailer for his exemplary fundraising for Cohen Children’s Medical Center and his efforts to influence and engage Ace stores across the country to fundraise for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.

Most notably, Mazzone had tremendous success with a unique fundraising initiative in his store selling World’s Finest® Chocolate Bars. The effort was so successful that he introduced the concept to leadership at the Ace Foundation, with the vision that it could be scaled and used as an additional fundraising lever across the entire Ace organization. The idea took off quickly and to-date, over 1.2 million bars have been sold in Ace stores generating more than $600,000 for CMN Hospitals across the country in just 16 months.

In addition, Mazzone hosts an annual Pumpkinfest event for his store’s neighborhood community. This fun-filled event has become a local tradition for many families with proceeds benefitting Cohen Children’s Medical Center. The event includes pumpkin decorating, pony rides, face painting, music, food and raffles.

"I am truly humbled and honored to be named the 2016 All-Star Retailer, and would like to give credit to my incredible team. I think I speak for Ace retailers across the organization when I say that giving back to our communities is something ingrained in our DNA, it is done without expectation of recognition or award,” said Matt Mazzone, Owner, Mazzone Ace Hardware. “I would like to thank our store associates, my fellow Ace retailers, the Ace Foundation team, and Ace’s management for their encouragement and continued support of Children's Miracle Network Hospitals. We are extremely proud to be associated with a company like Ace that understands the importance of helping our neighbors both inside and outside of our stores,” said Mazzone.

As part of Mazzone’s recognition, P&G and Duracell will donate $25,000 in his name to Cohen Children’s Medical Center. In addition, Cabot Creamery will host Mazzone on their 2017 Cabot Community Celebrity Cruise to Alaska. Like Ace, Cabot Creamery is a cooperative that believes in rewarding influential leaders like Mazzone for their contributions to communities and society.

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About Ace Hardware

For more than 90 years, Ace Hardware has been known as the place with the helpful hardware folks in thousands of neighborhoods across America, providing customers with a more personal kind of helpful. In 2016, Ace ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Home Improvement Retail Stores, Ten Years in a Row," according to J.D. Power. With more than 4,900 hardware stores locally owned and operated across the globe, Ace is the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world. Headquartered in Oak Brook, Ill., Ace and its subsidiaries currently operate 17 distribution centers in the U.S. and also have distribution capabilities in Ningbo, China; Colon, Panama; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Its retailers' stores are located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and approximately 60 countries. For more information on Ace, visit www.acehardware.com.

 

About the Ace Hardware Foundation

As the official charitable division of Ace Hardware Corporation, the Ace Hardware Foundation helps enhance the vision of being the “Helpful Place” in local communities across the country and around the globe through charitable giving. The Ace Foundation provides support and philanthropic opportunities to its consumers, retail store owners, vendors and team members to give back to local communities through fundraising efforts for Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and American Red Cross Disaster Relief.

 

About Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals

Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals® raises funds and awareness for 170 member hospitals that provide 32 million treatments each year to kids across the U.S. and Canada. Donations stay local to fund critical treatments and healthcare services, pediatric medical equipment and charitable care. Since 1983, Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals has raised more than $5 billion, most of it $1 at a time through the charity's Miracle Balloon icon. Its various fundraising partners and programs support the nonprofit’s mission to save and improve the lives of as many children as possible. Find out why children’s hospitals need community support, identify your member hospital and learn how you can Put Your Money Where the Miracles Are, at CMNHospitals.org and facebook.com/CMNHospitals.