John Lee and Kathryn Elliott have been working at Poplarville’s Greer’s CashSaver grocery store for over 20 years. The co-managers frequently let high school students, families, and local churches conduct fundraisers at the store, Lee said. High school students will offer car washes in the parking lot to fundraise money, or cheerleaders will bag groceries for tips, Elliot said.

The store also regularly donates money to community members in need and organizations like the American Heart Association or the Poplarville Rotary Club, Lee said.

Both the community’s shopping patterns and needs have changed in the 29 years she has worked there, Elliot said. Customers used to come in once a week for groceries, but now they come in everyday, which gives the store’s staff an opportunity to get to know their customers, Elliot said.

“They’re family and we treat them like family,” she said.

As a Poplarville native, Lee said that during his time working at the grocery store he’s watched mothers become grandmothers.

Today, there are more donation and fundraising requests than there used to be, Elliot said, and more of those requests focus on paying off medical bills. Most recently, store received three back to back requests to hold bake sales for cancer patients who couldn’t pay their medical bills, Elliot said. The store’s most recent donation was a gift card for a family fundraising for medical bills, Lee said.

The co-managers are able to approve fundraising requests, but donation requests have to be sent to their corporate office for approval, Lee said.

“If they request donations, we try our best to always do it,” Elliot said.

They do this because they think it is important for the store to give back to the community, Lee said.

“If you want to be blessed, you have to give,” Lee said.

Saturday, Greer’s will host its 8^th annual crawfish festival, a promotional event that includes boiled crawfish, barbeque, music and antique cars, Lee said. The event will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.