ShopRite to Host Dune Grass Planting

More than 100 ShopRite associates will take part in the Sixth Annual Beach Dune Grass Planting at Island Beach State Park, in Seaside Park, N.J., on Saturday, June 7. The associates hail from two ShopRite stores in Toms River, N.J.

For the sixth consecutive year, ShopRite volunteers, along with local community organizations and vendors, team with the nonprofit organization Friends of Island Beach State Park to replant dune grass along the shoreline, with the aim of furthering public appreciation and stewardship of the park. American beach grass, one of the few plants that grows on the primary dunes at Island Beach State Park, serves as the first line of defense in protecting the beach from wind, ocean waves and storms that would otherwise destroy the plant communities and habitat of the barrier island. Replanting beach grass along eroded dunes protects areas beyond them from the ocean’s impact.

Other volunteers slated to participate in this year’s planting include members of Community Access Unlimited, an organizations that aids people with special needs, and ShopRite vendor partner UNFI Specialty Distribution Services, a Leicester, Mass.-based national distributor of natural, organic and specialty foods.

ShopRite is the registered trademark of Keasby, N.J.-based retailer-owned cooperative Wakefern Food Corp. With more than 250 ShopRite supermarkets throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland, ShopRite serves more than 6 million customers weekly.