Stop & Shop Donates Holiday Gifts to Operation Sleighbells

More than 300 Stop & Shop store managers and associates from twenty stores across the Jersey Shore provided holiday gifts to fifty Monmouth and Ocean County families as part of Family & Children’s Service’s annual Operation Sleighbells program. Stop & Shop associates and representatives of Family & Children’s Service’s gathered at the Howell Stop & Shop to load the gifts onto a truck and transport them to FCS for distribution to the families.

During Operation Sleighbells, Stop & Shop personnel ‘adopt’ local families through Family & Children Services. Stop & Shop employees personally fund the donation of warm coats, hats, gloves, toys, and infant necessities to families who may be struggling during the holiday season. Stop & Shop employees also give gift cards to the parents, allowing them to provide other holiday gifts and necessities to their children.

“Each and every one of our Stop & Shop associates is personally gratified by the opportunity to participate in this wonderful program,” said Stop & Shop District Director, Mike Franz. “None of us could imagine any parent needing to tell their child that they would need to do without a gift this holiday season. Operation Sleighbells allows us to make a big difference in the lives of so many families in our community.”

“Operation Sleighbells is a wonderful representation of FCS’s mission for supporting those in need with our programs and services” said Colleen Verriest, CEO of Family & Children’s Service (FCS). “Our founders had the compassionate vision to brighten the holidays for underserved children by providing toys and gifts at Christmastime. 110 years after our founding, we are very fortunate to have kind and generous companies like Stop & Shop help us provide this to our community. Operation Sleighbells annually distributes thousands of coats, hats, gloves, pajamas, books, toys and much-needed infant supplies to more than 1,700 children each year. We are extremely thankful for Stop & Shop’s continued commitment to the program, as this holiday season we will be helping 150 more families than last year.”

Over the past four years, Stop & Shop employees have granted the holiday wishes of more than 250 area families and children through this program.