Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Father of Parkland victim angered by Publix response
A father of a victim of the Stoneman Douglas high massacre says the controversy over Publix and its political contributions isn’t over.
Fred Guttenberg, whose daughter was shot and killed in the Feb. 14 tragedy, said he asked Todd Jones, president and CEO of Publix Super Markets Inc., to visit Parkland to talk with the students, and for Publix to donate to its victims’ fund.
Last week, students demanded a boycott of Publix and then staged a “die-in” in response to the supermarket’s political contributions to gubernatorial candidate Adam Putnam, a self-proclaimed “proud #NRASellout.” The supermarket chain became a target after a media report that Putnam had received $670,000 over the past three years from the company.
Minutes before students and sympathizers protested inside stores Friday, Publix announced it was suspending future political contributions.
But Guttenberg on Tuesday said he was angered by Jones’ recent response. He said Jones wouldn’t agree to a Parkland visit or donation to the victims’ fund. “That is the right of Publix to make a decision like that, but I also have the right to call it out,” he tweeted.
He said Jones “had the gall to say to me that because the die in made this so political that he would not be able to come down here to meet with the Parkland kids and families, as a reminder we are customers, and that Publix would not be making any donation to the victims fund.”
Guttenberg told the South Florida Sun Sentinel that the students’ actions could have been avoided if the company would speak to the people impacted.
“We love Publix… [But] Publix has done something really offensive to us,” he said.
On Tuesday night, Publix replied by listing some of its efforts since the Parkland shooting. “While we have not contributed to the GoFundMe account, on April 4, more than 65 Publix associates, including our CEO & President, spent our Publix Serves Day at Marjory Stoneman Douglas,” said Nicole Krauss, a Publix spokeswoman.
She said Publix worked on several projects funded by the company, including a garden for a culinary program, beautification of common grounds and sodding and landscaping a new yoga/meditation area for the students. “We hoped our efforts would help the students find comfort in each other and a peaceful place to reflect and meditate,” she said.