A new nationally televised Walmart commercial is recognizing Victor-based The Perfect Granola and its effort to help the House of Mercy feed Rochester’s homeless population.

Michele Liddle, owner of The Perfect Granola, House of Mercy founder Sister Grace Miller and House of Mercy Director of Development and Communications Stephanie Buchbinder discussed the commercial and their collaboration Tuesday during News 8 at Noon.

“We’ve been selling into Walmart for a couple of months,” said Liddle. They really love our story and what we do in our community with our proceeds. So they reached out to us and asked if we would want to star in a commercial that they were going to broadcast on national TV. So, of course, we said yes!”

One of Liddle’s employees at The Perfect Granola volunteers her time at the House of Mercy. “Through The Perfect Granola, we offer our employees paid community service days. So, Ashlie Jones has chosen House of Mercy to go in and donate her time.”

Jones is featured in the one-minute commercial produced by the retail giant. When word of the Walmart opportunity reached the House of Mercy, it was met by disbelief. “I was shocked,” Buchbinder said. “They invited us to L.A. I mean it was first class all the way. They flew us to L.A., we shot the commercial, they put us up in a hotel. And everything was very secretive because it had to be a surprise for Ashlie. But it was really an amazing opportunity for the House of Mercy.”

The finished product reflects the spirit of The Perfect Granola’s support of the House of Mercy. “It was touching,” said Buchbinder. “Everybody that’s seen it has said the same thing. They were so moved by it. And my whole goal was to just inspire other people to be able to do the same as what Michele is doing – to be able to give back to the community.”

Copy this link into your browser to view the full commercial: https://bit.ly/2XcqODT

For Sister Grace, the commercial is a wonderful opportunity to draw attention to the ongoing work of the House of Mercy. “Oh it’s essential because we feed over 460 people a day,” she said. “We have three meals a day; breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We feed our homeless, and we have over 100 homeless coming every night, and a hungry neighborhood. And so we have a huge dining room and every time they’re eating, there are huge crowds there. And people really appreciate the meals that we get. So we’re very grateful to The Perfect Granola. They gave us 1,000 pounds of granola and granola bars and our people loved it. And it’s a great help to us because feeding that many people, we need donations from the community. We need food and monetary donations. So it’s a tremendous help to us. We have hungry people in our city. And many of them come and all three meals are really packed. So we’re very grateful.”

Liddle added, “It makes me feel inspired because to watch Sister Grace in what she’s been doing in the shelter for years and years and years and dedicated her life to it, it makes me want to do more which is why we’ve started this company and why we do what we do. And if we can shed light on what they are doing, and inspire other people to help out and volunteer their time, or make donations, that’s what it’s all about. We can’t do it alone. So we want to make sure that everybody rallies together to help.”

For more information about The Perfect Granola, visit theperfectgranola.com.

For more information about the House of Mercy, visit houseofmercyrochester.org.