Exchange Teams Work to Make In-Store Support of Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society a Reality

All it took was one meeting.

When command leadership at Pacific Region installations approached the Exchange about expanding its military relief partnership to include the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS), teams from across the Exchange sat down to plan a course of action. About a month later, the Exchange was beta testing PIN pad donations to NMCRS at select installations.

“We were able to get the right people in the room to make this happen,” said Jetdean Martin, store communications and support manager. “We had one meeting to get everyone on board, and because we had a blueprint already in place, the project moved quickly.”

That blueprint is the Exchange’s seven-year partnership with Army Emergency Relief (AER) and the Air Force Assistance Fund (AFAF). Those funds, like NMCRS, provide critical assistance to service members and military families in need through grants, scholarships and other support.

Shoppers at Army and Air Force installations have had the option of adding a donation to AER or AFAF at checkout at PXs, BXs and Expresses since 2017, resulting in $7.6 million for the funds. Now, shoppers at 12 installations in the Pacific Region will have the option to add a $1 or $5 donation to NMCRS to their purchase.

“We had a heads-up from Store Ops that this request might be coming soon,” said Dr. Lisa Comstock, the Exchange business chief for point of sale. “We had all the process flows in place, so when we got our marching orders, we were able to move quickly.”

The quick turnaround is all the more impressive for the number of directorates involved. In addition to Store Operations and the point-of-sale team, assistance was needed from IT, Finance and Accounting, Merchandising, Marketing and others.

“It was a very collaborative effort,” Martin said. “While we only had one meeting, we maintained very good communication with each other throughout the project, which allowed everything to run smoothly.”

The teams’ efforts are already directly helping Sailors, Marines and their families: in the first month Exchange shoppers have already donated $13,000.

“It’s nice to be a part of supporting such a great cause,” Comstock said.