Stop & Shop Raises Over$450,000 for the CT Food Bank/Foodshare

(from left to right) Commissioner CT Dept. of Agriculture Bryan Hurlburt, Stop & Shop Community Relations Director Jennifer Brogan, Stop & Shop Assistant Store Manager Shane McCarthy, CT Food Bank President Jason Jakubowski, Stop & Shop District Director Alisa Hudley, Assistant Store Manager Patrick Wellington, Stop & Shop Public Relations Manager Maura O'Brien and President of the Connecticut Food Association Wayne Pesce

Stop & Shop today announced that its 31st annual Food for Friends campaign raised more than $2 million for its 12 regional food bank partners to combat summer hunger in the communities it serves, breaking all previous years’ donation records, including $456,391.66 to Connecticut Food Bank/Foodshare.

Summer can be the hungriest time of year for kids. While during the school year families’ rely on free or reduced-priced meals at school, families have to buy more food when school is out, and children are at home - creating additional financial strain and sometimes forcing them to go hungry. An annual summer donation program, Stop & Shop’s Food for Friends campaign allows customers at the grocer’s 400+ stores throughout Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island to donate at checkout to support food insecure families across the Northeast.

Customers who shopped in stores and online were asked if they would like to round up their total to the nearest dollar or donate an additional $1, $3, or $5, and Stop & Shop donated 100% of the change Connecticut Food Bank/Foodshare and other regional food banks across its footprint. In addition to the in-store and online components of the campaign, customers were also able to donate non-perishable food items such as Knorr® rice and pasta sides, cereals, and canned goods at the Food for Friends donation bins that are located at each Stop & Shop store to benefit local hunger-relief organizations.

“Over the last year we’ve been confronted with food insecurity in a way we couldn’t have imagined and we could not have responded without the continued support from our partners at Stop & Shop and their customers,” said Connecticut Food Bank/Foodshare President & CEO Jason Jakubowski. “Together, their incredible generosity will allow us to provide more than 900,000 meals to people in Connecticut who are struggling with food insecurity and we cannot thank them enough.”

“We’re humbled by the incredible generosity of our customers who came out to support our Food for Friends program in its 31st year,” said Gordon Reid, President of Stop & Shop. “The outcome of the month-long campaign not only shows the value of communities coming together, but our steadfast commitment to helping our food bank partners provide nutritious food to families in need.”

Stop & Shop also teamed up with Knorr®, an international brand offering a wide range of bouillons, soups, seasonings, sauces, soupy snacks, dressings, and frozen and ready-made meals, to collect food donations in-store for local hunger-relief organizations during the campaign.

“Unilever’s Knorr brand believes that wholesome, nutritious food should be accessible and affordable to all,” said Christina DiPietro, Unilever Team Lead. “We are proud to be Stop & Shop’s first manufacturer partner for their annual Food for Friend’s campaign helping to raise over $2 million to benefit local food banks helping to fight food insecurity in our communities.”

In addition to the Connecticut Food Bank/Foodshare, funds raised during Stop & Shop’s Food for Friends campaign will benefit the following food banks:

● Community Foodbank of New Jersey

● Fulfill

● The Greater Boston Food Bank

● Worcester County Food Bank

● The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts

● Rhode Island Community Food Bank

● Feeding Westchester

● Food Bank of the Hudson Valley

● Food Bank for New York City

● Island Harvest

● Long Island Cares

For more information on Stop & Shop’s programs to support local communities, visit https://stopandshop.com/community/.