Local Chains Offer Aid in Sandy’s Wake

With many New York metropolitan-area communities in ruins after the destructive path taken by Superstorm Sandy last month, local grocery chains such as The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. (A&P), aided by several vendors and partners, are helping residents get back on their feet.

“As the food and drug store of the neighborhood, it’s our privilege to take care of the communities we serve, particularly in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy,” said Sam Martin, president and CEO of Montvale, N.J.-based A&P, which operates more than 300 stores in six states under the A&P, Best Cellars, Food Basics, The Food Emporium, Pathmark, Superfresh and Waldbaum’s banners. “We’re also focused on supporting our own associates who were severely impacted during the storm, and we appreciate their efforts to give back to the neighborhoods we serve during this challenging time.”

The grocer’s Sandy-related activities included the following

• With the National Grid electric and gas company, A&P helped deliver 2,500 turkeys to 12 metro New York community partners for Thanksgiving dinner as part of “Operation Turkey: Feeding Families, Restoring Hope.”
• On Nov. 9, A&P teamed with Smithfield Foods to donate two truckloads of protein products to Long Island Cares and the Food Bank of New York City.
• Associate Joseph Strepparava organized a collection drive for St. Mary by the Sea Church in Point Pleasant, N.J., with food and clothing donations collected at the A&P store in Closter, N.J., on Nov. 9.
• The Food Emporium, together with Viacom, enables customers to donate food and supplies from Nov. 9 through 14; 6,000 pounds of food and supplies went to the Sandy Relief Fund.
• Associates at A&P’s corporate office collected more than $550 in groceries and $100 in gift certificates for donation to the Pascack Valley Food Bank in northern New Jersey, on Nov. 14.
• A trailer of batteries and paper goods, including bath tissue and paper towels, is being donated to The Salvation Army by A&P, PowerMax and Oasis Brands.
• Customers who shop at stores run by A&P can add $1, $2, $3 or $5 Check-Out Hunger donations to their grocery bills through January 2013 to aid The Community FoodBank of New Jersey’s operations, including disaster relief.

Additionally, most of the company’s stores were reopened quickly to serve customers immediately following the storm.

Meanwhile, Key Food Stores Co-operative Inc., a co-op of independently owned and operated grocery stores servicing New York for over 75 years, has donated several truckloads of food and water to help the city’s boroughs hardest hit by Hurricane Sandy.

To find out the best way to help, Key Food contacted all five borough presidents. Working with Marty Markowitz of Brooklyn, Scott Stringer of Manhattan, James Molinaro of Staten Island, Helen Marshall of Queens and Ruben Diaz of the Bronx, the company determined that deliveries of food and water to Red Hook and Coney Island in Brooklyn, Far Rockaway in Queens, and Staten Island’s Midland Beach, New Dorp and Tottenville neighborhoods would directly help those who needed it most.

Each location received water, hot and cold cereal, canned and instant soup mixes, canned pasta and stew, granola bars, peanut butter, and other assorted items. The company donated a total 200 pallets of food worth $250,000-plus, including more than 9,000 cans of Key Food tuna, 4,800 boxes of Cheerios and 23,000 bottles of water.

Further, Key Food is working to get all of its stores open and restocked. As of its latest online update, two stores on the Rockaway Peninusula and two in Brooklyn were still closed due to storm damage.

“As we get our stores back up and running again, we want to help New Yorkers get back on their feet too,” noted Dean Janeway, chief executive of Staten Island-based Key Food, which consists of more than 125 independently owned and operated grocery stores operating under the Key Food, Key Food Marketplace, Key Fresh & Natural, Food Dynasty, Food World, Holiday Farm, Locust Valley and Milford Farms banners in all five New York City boroughs, Long Island, upstate New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.