ShopRite and its sister banners have created a website for the new Essential Thanks campaign to express gratitude to supermarket associates and other front-line workers while helping the hungry
ShopRite has rolled out a campaign to thank necessary health care workers, first responders and supermarket associates everywhere. Essential Thanks gives consumers the chance to express their gratitude by posting thank-you notes to COVID-19 front-line workers.
The notes can be uploaded directly to ShopRite's new www.EssentialThanks.com website or by tagging #EssentialThanks on Instagram and Twitter. Essential workers include truck drivers, grocery store associates, warehouse workers, health care providers, first responders and others on the front lines during the public health crisis.
Thank-you messages can be posted until June 30. Wakefern Food Corp., the retailer-owned cooperative whose members operate stores under the ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer and Dearborn Market banners, will donate $1 for each message delivered, up to a maximum donation of $500,000, with the money going to food banks in the stores’ trading area.
Earlier this month, Wakefern, through its ShopRite Partners In Caring Fund, donated $1 million to regional food banks to help meet the significant rise in demand for food and essentials amid the crisis.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has put the spotlight on what it takes to keep our communities safe and healthy every day and in times of crisis,” said Joe Colalillo, chairman and CEO of Keasbey, N.J.-based Wakefern. “We ask [consumers] to join us in thanking our store teams, warehouse workers, truck drivers, healthcare and all frontline workers for the incredible job they are doing each day by going to work to support and serve their communities.”
Retailer-owned cooperative Wakefern Food Corp. is No. 8 on Progressive Grocer’s 2019 Super 50 list of the top grocers in the United States. With nearly 280 supermarkets located throughout New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Delaware and Maryland, the ShopRite banner serves millions of customers each week.