ShopRite Backs Baltimore ‘Goods for Guns’

Through the collaboration of ShopRite Supermarkets, elected officials, nonprofit organizations and local police, the first-ever “Goods for Guns” collection in the city of Baltimore will take place Dec. 15 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Coldstream Homestead Montebello Community Corp.

In honor of the opening of the new ShopRite of Perring Crossing in Parkville, Md., the event is supported by Baltimore’s City Council, ShopRite operator Klein Family Markets, and UpLift Solutions Inc., founded by fellow ShopRite store operator Jeff Brown.

Goods for Guns enables owners of guns to turn them in and receive a $100 ShopRite gift card -- no questions asked.

“Violence in our communities makes any positive strides more challenging and it affects us all, particularly during difficult economic times,” noted Marshall Klein, director of operations for Forest Hill, Md.-based Klein’s Family Markets, which operates seven stores in the state. “The Goods for Guns program creates a tremendous opportunity to help the communities that we are committed to.”

Collection locations are selected according to where help is most needed.

Brown, president and CEO of Brown’s Super Stores, which runs 10 ShopRite locations in the Delaware Valley, began Westville, N.J.-based UpLift Solutions as a platform to share his supermarket model and experience on a national basis. The organization has pioneered the effort of eliminating areas lacking access to fresh and affordable food in the United States by working with government agencies, other nonprofits and industry to create sustainable environments for underserved communities.

ShopRite is the registered trademark of Wakefern Food Corp., a Keasbey, N.J.-based retailer-owned cooperative. With more than 240 ShopRite supermarkets in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland, ShopRite serves more than 5 million customers weekly.