Keep Your Money Local 

Puget Sound Community Card

This month, local non-profit Interra kicks off its Puget Sound Community Card program. The initiative project will help consumers earn cash rewards and direct money back to Seattle schools and non-profits.

Here's how it will work: Participating local stores choose a percentage of each purchase to be funneled back to the community. So, put $100 on your Puget Sound Community Card at a store with a 5% rebate, and $5 of your purchase will be redirected to Interra's program. Thirty-five percent goes to local schools and pre-designated non-profits of your choice, 30% will be used for operations, and the remaining cash will go back to you.

Non-profit beneficiaries address a range of issues, from the arts to coastal stewardship to spirituality.

Where can you use the card? Local business partners include PCC Natural Markets, Pioneer Organics, movement studio M'illumino, Flexcar, Wallingford's Irwin's Bakery and Fremont's Sound Mind & Body Health Club, with more on the way.

"Getting people's dollars to support the community is a wonderful thing, and fits in and reinforces Pioneer's mission," says Pioneer Organics founder and president Ronny Bell. "We're bringing an awareness to the power people have with the money they spend."

Want to sign up? Starting next week, you'll be able to register your existing credit card or pick up a new Interra card either online, or in person at any of PCC Natural Markets' eight locations. Stay tuned to A Fresh Squeeze, and we'll let you know when the launch starts.