Stop & Shop Donates $1.75M To Memorial Sloan Kettering Pediatrics

Press release from Stop & Shop:

Oct. 27, 2020

Stop & Shop today announced it will be donating $1.75M to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) in support of pediatric cancer care and research. The donation is the culmination of Stop & Shop’s annual Help Cure Childhood Cancer campaign, which ran from September 1–30, where Stop & Shop stores in New York, New Jersey, Fairfield and New Haven County, Connecticut, raised funds to support the hospital.

The campaign allowed customers to donate $1, $3 or $5 at checkout – or round-up to the nearest dollar at self-checkout. Customers shopping stopandshop.com for pickup and delivery could also add a $1, $3 or $5 donation to their cart when checking out. Stores also sold $0.99 reusable bags featuring artwork created by pediatric cancer patients, with $0.25 from the sale of each bag being donated. Stop & Shop’s customers raised $1.1M; Stop & Shop will be donating an additional $650,000 bringing the total to $1.75M.

“We would like to thank our customers once again for their generosity in raising funds to support pediatric cancer care and research,” shares Stop & Shop President, Gordon Reid. “This initiative is very important to Stop & Shop, which is why we are making an additional donation to each hospital in support of the vital work they do to ensure children and their families can lead happy and healthy lives.”

As part of Stop & Shop’s Help Cure Childhood Cancer campaign, the company highlighted the experiences of two MSK Kids patient ambassadors – local children who are currently being or have been treated at MSK and have benefited from donations from companies like Stop & Shop. The children, ranging in age from 5 to 18, were included on the in-store signage and were given various platforms to share their stories alongside their families.

MSK Kids, Memorial Sloan Kettering’s pediatric oncology program, is dedicated to all children, young adults, and families facing childhood cancer. With specialized expertise and care focused on the individual child, MSK Kids is the largest pediatric oncology program in the United States. As pioneers in pediatric research, MSK Kids physicians and scientists work hard to develop and deliver more effective strategies to prevent, treat, and ultimately cure childhood cancer—for patients at MSK Kids, and for those everywhere.

“The generosity of the Stop & Shop community has been a consistent source of support for MSK Kids, helping to drive progress forward,” said Dr. Andrew Kung, Chair of the Department of Pediatrics. “This year’s gift, which couldn’t be more critical, will allow us to move ideas and observations from the lab to the children who need them.”

Stop & Shop’s Help Cure Childhood Cancer Campaign also ran in the company’s stores north of New Haven, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, supporting the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in the fight against pediatric cancer.

This press release was produced by Stop & Shop. The views expressed here are the author's own.