Children Handle Grocery Shopping for Mother's Day at Stop & Shop

Stop & Shop and The Boys & Girls Club of Hartford have teamed up to make Mother’s Day more special for six moms and their families. Stop & Shop provided Club members whose families have been impacted by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic with $150 gift cards to help with their family’s grocery shop. Some children were escorted through the grocery aisles with mom’s shopping list by Stop & Shop employees, providing them the important life experience of grocery shopping, while others shopped online using Stop & Shop’s Pickup and Home Delivery service to order mom’s groceries, all in hopes of lessening the burden on mom for Mother’s Day. The kids, aged 5-12, shopped the aisles at the Hartford Stop & Shop located at 150 New Park Avenue, checking everything off their moms’ grocery lists.

The U.S. Census Bureau says 1.5 million fewer moms of school-age children are working now as compared to March 2020, creating a socioeconomic fallout for many families. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also finds that during the pandemic, women’s participation in the workforce fell to levels not seen since the mid 1980’s. Beyond this, mothers still maintain majority of the household work, such as grocery shopping.

Representatives of The Boys & Girls Club of Hartford say that many of the mothers whose children shopped at Stop & Shop this week are raising their children alone and are the sole providers for their families. Having Stop & Shop and Boys & Girls Club of Hartford employees help kids handle the shopping, budgeting and payment with Stop & Shop gift cards, mom was able to take a much-deserved break, making this Mother’s Day very special in what has been a very difficult year.

Many mothers say that access to childcare and the demands of virtual and home schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic have forced them to leave the workforce. Millions of women who have kept their jobs have struggled to keep working. The number of mothers on leave has dramatically increased since March 2020.

Boys & Girls Club of Hartford members and parents have faced a difficult past year, but the Club and donors like Stop & Shop are committed to aiding families in combatting food security, providing educational support, technological access and more to help ensure bright futures for children across Hartford.