The California State Parks system today announced a partnership with Stater Bros. Charities and Coca-Cola Refreshments to raise much-needed funds during a time of challenging budget cuts. These partners team up for a short, intense campaign every spring to help protect local assets important to the community and improve state parks for families that regularly enjoy them for recreation. Called Preserve Our Park s (http://www.preserveourparks.info), the program is an intensive, six-week campaign with the goal of raising up to $1 million to support Southern California parklands.

The campaign encourages customers to support Southern California State Parks while shopping at Stater Bros. Supermarkets. Shoppers can make a one-dollar or five-dollar, tax-deductible donation to the Preserve Our Parks campaign at Stater Bros. checkout stands through April 24, 2012 or they may donate online at http://www.preserveourparks.info. Additionally, Coca-Cola Refreshments will donate one dollar when consumers purchase ten dollars’ worth of participating Coca-Cola products at Stater Bros., including branded soft drinks, vitaminwater, vitaminwater zero, smartwater, POWERADE ION4, POWERADE ZERO, FUZE, DASANI Gold Peak products, Minute Maid products, Simply juices and Honest Tea products. The Coca-Cola products promotion runs through May 8, 2012.

2012 represents the fourth year that Coca-Cola and Stater Bros. have initiated an environmental stewardship program for parks. The previous campaigns combined raised nearly $2 million that were used to plant one million trees in parks damaged by wildfires, support beach clean-up and dune restoration at popular state beaches and provide trail maintenance at Southern California state parks.

“Protecting and preserving our local California State Parks is a priority for the Stater Bros. Supermarket family,” says Jack H. Brown, Stater Bros. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “We are proud to be a part of a program that helps safeguard Southern California’s natural assets for local residents and future generations.”

“We are grateful for our partners at Stater Bros. and Coca-Cola for supporting Southern California state parks,” said Ruth Coleman, director of California State Parks. “These funds provide critical dollars toward enhancing visitor experiences during challenging budget times.”

All monies raised during the campaign will be donated to California State Park Foundation. Educational facts, Preserve Our Parks program details and the ability to share the campaign via social media platforms are available on the Preserve Our Parks website and the Facebook cause page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Preserve-Our-Parks).

Preserve Our Parks directly benefits iconic Southern California State Parks, and that partial list includes: Malibu Creek State Park and Topanga State Park in Los Angeles County; Huntington Beach, San Clemente and Crystal Cove State Parks in Orange County; Anza-Borrego, Cuyamaca Rancho and Carlsbad State Parks in San Diego County; Silverwood Lake and Chino Hills in San Bernardino County; and Lake Perris and Mount San Jacinto in Riverside County.