Around the world, July 11 was promoted as “an epic day of deals,” a one-day shopping event for Amazon’s Prime customers. For Hopkins House, “Prime Day” was an opportunity to reach out in support of its community learning centers for children.

“I can’t take credit for this,” said Hopkins House CEO Glenn Hopkins. “The idea came from the parents of our children. They are always asking ‘How can we help?’ and looking for ways they can afford to help. The Amazon Smile program allows anyone of any means to support us.”

Amazon Smile allows anyone shopping on the Amazon website to designate a charitable organization to receive a portion of their purchase price at no additional cost to the consumer. Hopkins House is one of many local nonprofits listed among the nearly one million organizations participating in the program. But few, if any, took advantage of the opportunity to piggyback on the retail giant’s worldwide publicity blitz leading up to Prime Day.

“Parents met last month and alerted me to the Prime Day promotion,” Hopkins said. “This was an opportunity for us to reach out to our donors and remind them that they can shop and at the same time support our children.”

Founded in 1939, Hopkins House operates education enriched preschool academies for infants and children, summer discovery camps for adolescents and a college and career development institute for teens and adults.

The organization sent out email reminders of the upcoming Prime Day and the opportunity to support Hopkins House through the Amazon Smile program. Once a charity is designated by a shopper, the Amazon Smile Foundation donates 0.5 percent of the purchase price to the organization.

“Every little penny helps us,” Hopkins said. “It helps our scholarship program and helps buy paper for our classrooms. No donation amount is too small.”

For more information, visit www.hopkinshouse.org.